Vlookup Problem

[wishes_h]

Hello,

I have a problem with the Vlookup function, i have a defined table with two columns to define fuel sources, the first column refers to fuel source name and the second to the ID/number associated with each source. the table name is 'source'

in another sheet named 'ID', i have a list of ID's defined in column A

and in a third sheet named 'b', i have a list that should read the source names based on the corresponding id in sheet ID, I used the following formula in cell b!A2:

=VLOOKUP(ID!A2,source,1,FALSE)
but it returns #N/A

I read in one of the threads, that this might be related to the cell format, actually, i didn't play with the formats, all of the fields have the general format.

I gave up.....Any Ideas !!!!

 

[DonkeyOte]

VLOOKUP looks from left to right -- it seems your source table has ID in the 2nd column and the value you want to retrieve is in the first column so a vlookup in this instance won't work (as you're essentially looking from right to left) -- you will need to use INDEX with MATCH

=INDEX(source1,MATCH(ID!A2,source2,0),1)

where source1 is column 1 in source range
where source2 is column 2 in source range

 

[Peter_SSs]

wishes_h

Welcome to the MrExcel board!

I think this also does what you want:
=INDEX(Source,MATCH(ID!A2,INDEX(Source,0,2),0),1)

However, as indicated by lasw10, it would probably be simpler to refer directly to the source sheet and table with something like:
=INDEX(Sourcesheetname!A:A,MATCH(ID!A2,Sourcesheetname!B:B,0))

 

[wishes_h]

Thanks a lot,

both worked and made me understand more things about this function, I also switched the two columns and this works well too....

wishes