VLookup locked?

[sammipd]

I need to vlookup a date from a downloaded spreadsheet to my spreadsheet. It’s in yyyy-mm-dd format and will not change. Somehow, it’s locked. Usually, I’m able to vlookup it, and then text-to-columns and concatenate to change the format. But now, for some unknown reason, the vlookup will not work, and the cell shows the formula, not the result. Using the wizard, each step shows the correct result, but after hitting OK, the formula is in the cell not the result. Any ideas why? And how to fix? Using Excel 2010. Thanks!

=VLOOKUP(A2,'[pc 102516 startenddates.xlsx]Sheet1'!$A$1:$E$2827,4,false)

 

[Asala42]

I suspect your formula column got formatted as text.

> Highlight the column your formula is in
> Hit Ctrl 1 (or right click/format cells)
> Set the format to "General", ok out.
> Select the top most formula cell, click in the formula bar, and hit enter. The vlookup should now work on that cell
> Copy formula down