VLOOKUP Formula Generator
Describe what you're looking up in plain English and get a ready-to-use VLOOKUP formula for Excel or Google Sheets, with an explanation of every argument.
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VLOOKUP syntax
=VLOOKUP(lookup_value, table_array, col_index_num, [range_lookup])lookup_value is what you're searching for, table_array is the range to search (the lookup column must be the first column), col_index_num is which column to pull the result from (counting from 1), and range_lookup should almost always be FALSE for an exact match. Works the same way in Excel and Google Sheets. Formulon writes this for you from a plain description — no need to count columns by hand.
Examples
Look up a customer's email by their ID
=VLOOKUP(A2,Customers!A:C,3,FALSE)Takes the ID in A2, searches for it in the first column of the Customers sheet (A:C), and returns the value from the 3rd column of that range — the email.
Pull a product price from a price list, with a fallback
=IFERROR(VLOOKUP(A2,PriceList!A:B,2,FALSE),"Not found")Wraps VLOOKUP in IFERROR so that if the product isn't in the price list, you see "Not found" instead of a #N/A error.
Frequently asked questions
What does VLOOKUP do?
VLOOKUP searches for a value in the leftmost column of a range, then returns a value from a specified column in the same row. It's the most common way to pull matching data from one table into another.
Why does VLOOKUP only look right?
VLOOKUP always searches the first (leftmost) column of the range you give it, and can only return values from columns to the right of it. If the value you're looking up is to the right of the value you want to return, use INDEX/MATCH instead.
What's the difference between VLOOKUP in Excel and Google Sheets?
The syntax is identical in both. The only common gotcha is the 4th argument (range_lookup): use FALSE (or 0) for an exact match, which is what you want in almost every real spreadsheet.
Why do I get #N/A?
Usually because the lookup value doesn't exist in the first column of your range, there's extra whitespace in the cell, or the 4th argument was left as TRUE (approximate match) instead of FALSE.
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