VLOOK UP function in Excel - Gaintoearn

VLOOK UP: VLOOK UP stands for “Vertical Lookup”

Purpose:  we can get full detail about selected data in a big or mass report

Advantages of VLOOK UP:

Listed points are the advantages of VLOOK UP    

   1.    As this very helpful for report analyst or reporting team or data analyst

   2.      Minimize work time and maximize the productivity

   3.      Accurate detail gets from one file to another file easily

   4.      Short span of time we can prepare reports

   5.      VLOOK UP only looks at the right 

Disadvantages of VLOOK UP:

Below are the major demerits or disadvantage in VLOOK UP

1.      We can’t look at this formula for left

2.      VLOOK UP only finds the first match

3.      Inserting a column gives wrong result

Here given I have given one example how to use VLOOK UP function in single and multiple criteria

Data:

Below detail contains for COVID Vaccination detail of candidates to identify who has taken and who didn’t take. 

From the above table we need to know only selected candidates’ vaccination detail only. If it’s required only single category, then we can use below formula.

1.Single Category 

We need to know below candidate vaccination detail by using VLOOK UP Formula

 Formula Explanation:

 VLOOK UP = (lookup_value, table array, Col_index_num, [range_lookup])

 Lookup value:  Nigitha

 Table Array:

      select the table range (where we are getting information about Nigitha) so need to select whole table range ( B3:F14)  and to mark first cell need to be an absolute cell reference ($B$3)

Vaccination table number is “4”

Range Lookup:

 Exact match required then mark as “0”  

Approximate match required then mark as “1”

 We required exact match so marked as “0”

2.    Multiple Category 

We are going to look multiple column detail of below candidates

Formula for using multiple criteria:

=VLOOKUP($B5,'Detail '!$B$3:F14,COLUMNS('Detail '!$B$3:C4),0)

What is the formula we have used for single category same formula we need to use for multiple categories also along with COLUMNS formula and absolute reference.

Difference between Single category VLOOK UP and Multiple category VLOOK UP

Basis of Difference	Single Category	Multiple Category
Look UP Value	Single reference	Absolute reference
Table Array	Table selection with absolute reference to respective column & cell	Same as single category
Column index	Single category column number can be provided	Select multiple categories and with absolute reference to respective column & cell
Range lookup	Exact match (0)	Exact match (0)

I think above information is very helpful for you.

 if you are using VLOOKUP in your work then comment below are you using regular basis or occasionally?