Using vlookup to identify the row below, not above a target

[hellcat83]

Hi

I'm making a sheet for work and I have a small problem that I can't find an answer to.

I have a table that shows the dates that various documents are to be completed by in it;

1/1/10 Report 1
3/2/10 Report 2
12/7/10 Report 3

Using the current date I am able to select the report that was last due, but is there a way to identify the next report due using vlookup or any other function, using only the current date and range of dates in the table.

Cheers
Jim

 

[CWatts]

Instead of using VLOOKUP, try using INDEX / Match. For example. You'll see the VLOOKUP function and the same thing is returned using INDEX/MATCH and you'll also see where I added +1 to the INDEX/MATCH to show the next value.

Hope that help!

<TABLE style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffffff; PADDING-LEFT: 2pt; PADDING-RIGHT: 2pt; FONT-FAMILY: Calibri,Arial; FONT-SIZE: 11pt" border=1 cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0><COLGROUP><COL style="WIDTH: 30px; FONT-WEIGHT: bold"><COL style="WIDTH: 64px"><COL style="WIDTH: 64px"></COLGROUP><TBODY><TR style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; BACKGROUND-COLOR: #cacaca; FONT-SIZE: 8pt; FONT-WEIGHT: bold"><TD> </TD><TD>A</TD><TD>B</TD></TR><TR style="HEIGHT: 18px"><TD style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; BACKGROUND-COLOR: #cacaca; FONT-SIZE: 8pt">1</TD><TD>Cat</TD><TD style="TEXT-ALIGN: center">3</TD></TR><TR style="HEIGHT: 18px"><TD style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; BACKGROUND-COLOR: #cacaca; FONT-SIZE: 8pt">2</TD><TD>Dog</TD><TD style="TEXT-ALIGN: center">1</TD></TR><TR style="HEIGHT: 18px"><TD style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; BACKGROUND-COLOR: #cacaca; FONT-SIZE: 8pt">3</TD><TD>Bird</TD><TD style="TEXT-ALIGN: center">5</TD></TR><TR style="HEIGHT: 18px"><TD style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; BACKGROUND-COLOR: #cacaca; FONT-SIZE: 8pt">4</TD><TD>Frog</TD><TD style="TEXT-ALIGN: center">6</TD></TR><TR style="HEIGHT: 18px"><TD style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; BACKGROUND-COLOR: #cacaca; FONT-SIZE: 8pt">5</TD><TD> </TD><TD> </TD></TR><TR style="HEIGHT: 18px"><TD style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; BACKGROUND-COLOR: #cacaca; FONT-SIZE: 8pt">6</TD><TD> </TD><TD> </TD></TR><TR style="HEIGHT: 18px"><TD style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; BACKGROUND-COLOR: #cacaca; FONT-SIZE: 8pt">7</TD><TD>Dog</TD><TD style="TEXT-ALIGN: center">1</TD></TR><TR style="HEIGHT: 18px"><TD style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; BACKGROUND-COLOR: #cacaca; FONT-SIZE: 8pt">8</TD><TD> </TD><TD style="TEXT-ALIGN: center">1</TD></TR><TR style="HEIGHT: 18px"><TD style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; BACKGROUND-COLOR: #cacaca; FONT-SIZE: 8pt">9</TD><TD> </TD><TD> </TD></TR><TR style="HEIGHT: 18px"><TD style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; BACKGROUND-COLOR: #cacaca; FONT-SIZE: 8pt">10</TD><TD>Modified</TD><TD style="TEXT-ALIGN: center">5</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
<TABLE style="BORDER-BOTTOM-STYLE: groove; BORDER-BOTTOM-COLOR: #00ff00; BORDER-RIGHT-STYLE: groove; BACKGROUND-COLOR: #fffcf9; BORDER-TOP-COLOR: #00ff00; FONT-FAMILY: Arial; BORDER-TOP-STYLE: groove; COLOR: #000000; BORDER-RIGHT-COLOR: #00ff00; FONT-SIZE: 10pt; BORDER-LEFT-STYLE: groove; BORDER-LEFT-COLOR: #00ff00"><TBODY><TR><TD>Spreadsheet Formulas</TD></TR><TR><TD><TABLE style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial; FONT-SIZE: 9pt" border=1 cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=2><TBODY><TR style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #cacaca; FONT-SIZE: 10pt"><TD>Cell</TD><TD>Formula</TD></TR><TR><TD>B7</TD><TD>=VLOOKUP(A7,A1:B4,2,FALSE)</TD></TR><TR><TD>B8</TD><TD>=INDEX(B1:B4,MATCH(A7,A1:A4,0))</TD></TR><TR><TD>B10</TD><TD>=INDEX(B1:B4,MATCH(A7,A1:A4,0)+1)</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>

 

[hellcat83]

Hi

I tried that, but it didn't work. Does the INDEX/MATCH method assume that the value you are searching for will match one in the array exactly, because that isn't what I need it for. It needs to search out the closest value below the desired value and return the that one.

For example, if the date was 4/1/12 and I had 1/1/12 and 8/1/12 in my array or values, using vlookup I'd want it to return the entry linked to 1/1/12, but in this case I want the one for 8/1/12.

Can that be done?

Cheers
Jim

 

[hellcat83]

No worries, just sorted it by changing the match parameter to 1.

Thanks for the help
Jim