vlookup data range by date format

[mdeanh5252]

Hey all I have never needed to vlookup based on dates to return a result until now and i keep getting a #N/A result.
So what i want to do is lookup the item by date and return the result of the item
The equation im using is:
=vlookup(D1,A2:C4,1,false)

Cell D1 would have a date i wanted to lookup in my data range

my equation is in cell E1 to return result

My data layout is:

Item	count	date
Oranges	52	5/6/2017
Bananas	36	6/8/2017
Apples	75	9/9/2017
I moved the dates to column A and changed my row reference and the equation works fine. Why do dates prevent return results as layed out above but when layed out in first column they return?

<tbody>
</tbody>

<tbody>
</tbody>

 

[mole999]

you need to address the left column, so your search in D1 could be the fruit. I think you need to use INDEX MATCH to get what you are after

 

[mdeanh5252]

Thanks I was just about to try that.