I’ve got an Excel lookup functions question for you, in the quick poll below. And I’ve got some breaking news for you too!
Contextures Monthly Newsletter
First, here’s my news — I’m starting a monthly Excel newsletter, which I’ll send on the second Tuesday every month. That way, it won’t land in your inbox, while you’re scrambling to finish your month-end reports!
I’ve missed staying in touch with you, since I stopped sending my bi-weekly Excel newsletter in November 2021, after 10 years of sending it!
It was always great to get your feedback, and to hear what you were doing in Excel.
So, I hope you’ll join me in this new version of the newsletter. The first issue goes out next week, on Tuesday, June 18th.
Get the News!
You can read a bit more about the newsletter on my Contextures site, and check out some issues of the previous newsletter.
And if you’re ready to try it out, please put your email in the box below, then click Subscribe.
A couple of minutes later, when you get my reply, click the Confirm button. (I added this step to protect you from spam!)
Quick Poll: Excel Lookup Functions
Next, here’s a quick poll about Excel lookup functions. Please let me know which of these functions you’re using most often!
I’ll have the poll results in the newsletter, so you can see what other people are using in their Excel files!
The poll results have been interesting so far!
Excel Lookup Functions
Meanwhile, as you wait for next week’s Excel newsletter, here are 3 lookup function videos that you can watch.
And there are lots more lookup function tutorials and videos on my Contextures site, and here on the blog!
Video: Find Product Price with Excel VLOOKUP
In this short video, I show how to make a VLOOKUP formula, to find a product price.
The written steps are on the VLOOKUP Examples page on my Contextures site.
Video: Find Product Price for Quantity with Excel VLOOKUP
In this video, I show the steps for building a VLOOKUP and MATCH formula. Also, you’ll see a problem that can occur if the data is in a named Excel Table.
Video: Get Last Number With Excel LOOKUP Function
And finally, here’s a LOOKUP function video, that I made for the long-ago 30 Excel Functions in 30 Days challenge.
In the video, I show 3 LOOKUP examples:
- Find last number in a column
- Find latest month with negative amount
- Convert student percentages to letter grades
_________________
Which Excel Lookup Functions Do You Use Most Often?
_______________
I answered XLOOKUP, but a few years ago my answer would have been INDEX/MATCH. I’ve made a conscious effort to replace all old formulas with the new, and evangelise to my colleagues for them to change to XLOOKUP too (of course they either lazily default to VLOOKUP or have never used lookup functions at all). This way I hope my workbooks will be something I can pass on without issue.
Thanks, Derek, and you’re doing all the right things. I hope your colleagues appreciate that eventually! Inertia is a big factor in not switching to new functions. Also, there’s the fear factor. Some people struggled to master VLOOKUP, and might worry that XLOOKUP is even tougher to learn.
I say =VLOOKUP() is an old dinosaur, and teach everyone to use =XLOOKUP().
Before that it was all Index/Match. Though I still use =Match() to get a True/False value.
Since PowerBI entered the stage, I spend less time with Excel. But Excel is still unrivaled when it comes to easy to use. So the ultimate tool would be if someone managed to combine PowerBI and Excel into one product. In a few years we might hear from Microsoft, that CoPilot just did that 🙂
Thanks, Ola, and you’re right about VLOOKUP! XLOOKUP is so much easier/better. Just click a couple of columns, and tell it what to look for.
And please let me know if you hear any news about that PowerBI/Excel combo!