VLOOKUP is an Excel function that can pull data from one
worksheet to another, based on a primary key.
Ex: given a spreadsheet of usage data and a spreadsheet of
pricing data, prices can be pulled into the usage spreadsheet using
the ISSN for each item.
3.
Source spreadsheet: the spreadsheet from which you will pull
data. (in our example, the pricing data)
Destination spreadsheet: the spreadsheet into which you are
adding data. (the usage data)
Primary key: the column that uniquely identifies each row and
is present in both spreadsheets. (the ISSN)
Source table: the subset of the spreadsheet that contains both
the primary key column and all columns from which you are pulling
information.
4.
Decide what column you are going to use for your primary
key.
A value that is included in both spreadsheets
Unique for each row
ISSNs or other numeric identifiers are good
Titles or other long strings that can vary slightly are not as
good, because it can be hard to match them exactly.
5.
Identify your source table
A selection of your source spreadsheet
Contains all the information you want to pull into the
destination spreadsheet
Also contains primary key column
It might be the entire source spreadsheet, or it might just be
a few columns.
6.
Make sure that your primary key column is the left-most column
of your source table.
This might involve moving some columns around.
Source Table Primary Key Column
7.
Copy the column titles for your source table from the source
spreadsheet to the destination spreadsheet.
8.
Click on the first cell of the first column in your destination
spreadsheet where you would like to insert data from your source
spreadsheet.
9.
From the Formulas tab, under Lookup & Reference, choose
VLOOKUP
10.
The Function Arguments window opens.
Click on the first input box (lookup_value), then click the box
in your DESTINATION sheet that contains the PRIMARY KEY for that
row.
Primary Key
11.
Click in the Table_array box, then switch to the source
worksheet and select the entire source table.
You can now hand-edit the selection further if you need to in
the box.
12.
In the col_index_num box, put the column number that you want
to pull data from in the source spreadsheet, not the letter.
For example, if you want data from Column D, and your Primary
Key (first column of your source table) is in Column B, youll put
in 3. (column B is 1, C is 2, D is 3).
13.
For Range_lookup, enter FALSE to indicate that only exact
matches for the primary key should be returned. Click OK.
14.
Once the formula is entered once, you can use fill down to
finish the column, but first you need to fix some variables.
Put a $ before the column (letter) label indicating lookup
value.
Put a $ before the column (letter) AND row (number) labels
indicating source table
15.
You can now use fill-down to pull in values for the rest of the
column
To use the formula for other columns, copy and paste the first
row, changing only the col_index_num variable, then fill-down as
necessary.