Vlookup in two workbooks - one set works, the other does not

[ruthjv]

Hi everyone,

I'm using VLOOKUP to compare two sets of email lists in List A and Spreadsheet List B. These two lists are in two different workbooks. Please note I am using Excel 2011 on a MacBook Pro. I need to know if the emails found in Column A (Email column) of Workbook List B are found in Column A (Email column) of Workbook List A.

I'm using the following VLOOKUP formula

=VLOOKUP(A2,'
[List A.xlsx]Sheet1'!$A$1:$D$2000,1,FALSE)

The formula works if I use it to compare the emails from List A to those in List B {=VLOOKUP(A2,'
[List A.xlsx]Sheet1'!$A$1:$D$2000,1,FALSE)}, but not if I try to compare the emails from List B to List A {=VLOOKUP(A2,'
[List B.xlsx]Sheet1'!$A$1:$D$2000,1,FALSE)}

I'm not getting an error message, the cell is just not recognizing it as a formula.

Can someone please help me figure out what the issue might be?

Thanks!

Both sets of emails are in Column A in both workbooks.

 

[Jonmo1]

Welcome to the board.

I'm not getting an error message, the cell is just not recognizing it as a formula.

By that do you mean that after you enter the formula, the cell just shows the formula as a text string?
Make sure the cell you put the formula in is formatted as General (or anything other than Text)
Then RE-Enter the formula.

 

[ruthjv]

Welcome to the board.



By that do you mean that after you enter the formula, the cell just shows the formula as a text string?
Make sure the cell you put the formula in is formatted as General (or anything other than Text)
Then RE-Enter the formula.

Yes, it was showing the formula as a text string. You were correct! I reformatted the entire column as General and re-entered the formula. Thank you so very much for your help. I greatly appreciate it!

 

[Jonmo1]

Glad to help, thanks for the feedback