Comments on: INDEX & MATCH in Excel - better alternative to VLOOKUP

This tutorial demonstrates the key strengths of Excel's INDEX / MATCH function that make it superior to VLOOKUP. You will find a number of formula examples that will help you easily cope with many complex tasks when VLOOKUP fails. Continue reading →

Comments page 13. Total comments: 614

  1. Hello! I need to visually split "Pyramid" chart. I created one for one fiscal year but I need to have 2 fiscal years reflected on one pyramid with a vertical line in the middle. Can anybody help/show hot to do this?
    where I can send "snap-it" attachment?
    Thank you! :-)

  2. Instaded of using such cretical formula we can get these results just using Pivote table function " so could I know what's advantage of using Index & Match function over Pivote table"

  3. I'm having difficulty getting any of this to work for exactly what I'm wanting to do. I'm working with 2 spreadsheets: "2001 Base Data" (BD) and "Knowledge Occupations" (KO). I'm trying to pull data from BD into KO. In KO I have the Name in column D. In each successive column there is an OCC code (xx-xxxx). I'm trying to pull employment by matching the Name in column D and an OCC code with the name & OCC code in BD. BD has the name in column B and the OCC code in column C. I want KO to return the value from column F in spreadsheet BD.

    Any guidance that can be provided would be immensely appreciated.

    Thank you!

  4. Dear mam/sir i reading in vlookup formula but i did not clear so kindly that by example

  5. Hi there hope you could help me i have a problem to use index match formula i before i was using vlookup but each time i have pasted new report the formula stop working

    i have a tab with vendor list
    column A Document number
    Column B Vendor number

    and tab with vat input
    column A
    document number

    i need formula to go to vendor list match the document number with the document number from VAT list and return the vendor number from the vendor list which is next to the document number in this list.

    My formula = INDEX( VENDORLIST $A:$B, Match(VAT List $A2,VAT List A:A,0),2))

    this formula does not return the right vendor number.

    Can you please advise ?

    Thanks,
    Aleks

  6. Is there a way for me to copy the array formula to multiple cells without press ctrl + shift + enter at each cell? when i press shift+F9 an error appear "Excel run out of resource while attempting to calculate one or more formulas. as a result, these formulas cannot be evaluated".

  7. I am trying to set a spreadsheet so that if it looks up a table. There are three columns; size of timber, rate to charge and the rate charged in £.
    I want to set it so that if the size and rate match on my spreadsheet details I have inputted then it picks up the charge rate from the table and inputs it so I know what to charge based on the size and rate chosen.
    Help if possible!

  8. what are the scenario where we do use index and match?
    and what is If match_type is 1, MATCH finds the largest value that is less than or equal to lookup_value. Lookup_array must be placed in ascending order: ...-2, -1, 0, 1, 2, ..., A-Z, FALSE, TRUE. In Match function

  9. Hi,

    A big thanks to anyone who can help with this.

    Column A
    14P3WSKK1637I35DM
    13A4P5FL7243G95126
    13A4CL1E5051I36B28
    13A4CL1E5051I09Q30
    13A4Y9GE50C733N32
    13A4DLES1206I90132
    14P4CWN5V3W5G24PS
    14P4CWN5V5Q5G24PSS

    Coumn B
    S
    SS
    28
    30
    32
    M

    Comumn C
    Small
    Extra Small
    Size 28
    Suze 30
    Suze 32
    Medium

    I have to search for the text from column B in Column A and return the corresponding value from Column C.

    Basically the last character or combination of the last two characters make up the size of the clothing.

    Thanks a million.

    Umar

  10. Svetlana, I enjoy your formulas explanations: very visual, very concise.
    I have a long formula I am using (was created my may manager). Formula works, but I'd like to find ways to make it shorter and more"elegant". Since the formula takes almost a page in Word, I'd like to pay you for a working solution. Must be for Excel 2010 & 2013. I use both for internal reasons on 2 computers.
    Thank you!

    1. Hi Olga,

      I am glad to hear you've found my articles helpful. Please send us a sample workbook with your original formula to support@ablebits.com and we will see if we can help. (To make sure your message immediately gets in the right hands, please refer to this comment or write something like "Att: Svetlana" in the subject).

  11. 4 4.25 4.5 4.75 5
    1.10 1.11 1.13 1.14 1.15
    1.08 1.09 1.10 1.11 1.12
    1.06 1.07 1.08 1.08 1.09
    1.04 1.06
    1.02 1.03
    1.00 1.01
    -22 212 233.2 235.9 238.5 241.2 243.8
    -21 206 226.6 229.2 231.8 234.3 236.9
    -20 200 220.0 222.5 225.0 227.5 230.0
    -19 194 213.4 215.8 218.3 220.7 223.1
    -18 188 206.8 209.2 211.5 213.9 216.2
    -17 182 200.2 202.5 204.8 207.0 209.3
    -16 176 193.6 195.8 198.0 200.2 202.4
    -15 170 187.0 189.1 191.3 193.4 195.5
    -14 164 180.4 182.5 184.5 186.6 188.6

    Hi,please see above which is driving me crazy. I have a number I want to match with row 1 (eg 4) and I have a value corresponding to the main table (eg 192.2) and I want it to give me the left hand column value nearest to (192.2) which in this instance would be -16. Is this possible please?

    1. Sorry, the row 1 item (4) is in cell C1 and the nearest number to 192.2 is 193.6 in cell c14 and I would like it to return -16 from cell A14.

      Hope that makes more sense.

  12. I am attempting to do a vlookup or an index/match function in excel to return a name of an organization. I want excel to look at a value in cell G24 and if it is # look in H24 and return a value from a separate tab or return a value from another tab if it is not a # in G24. In other words I am doing Vlookup,(G24,'Organization data,!A2:C229,2,0) and vlookup(H24,'fp'!A2:c926,1,0). Is it possible to combine that function to return a solution?

  13. I use sum(if(...) array formula to get the results from data for multiple conditions. Can Index(Search) option be used to replace this and get the count and sum from the table based on more than 2 criteria. fox ex. from a data of students, we want sum of boys having age <=10 and passed with more than 80%.

  14. Hi,

    I need help, let me know if you can fix my problem.
    Say I have Master Data:
    Col A Col B
    Book 123
    Book 60
    Pencil 50
    Pencil 100

    Than I expect summary table:
    Col A Col B
    Book 123
    Pencil 100
    The maximum of same index in Col A

    How can we make it in excel?

  15. Hi,

    I need to add prefix with as no of zero as required to the amount field till the lenth becomes 11 digit.

    For example, if amount field is 1000, then it prefix with 7 zeros as '00000001000' and if amount field is 10000, then it prefix with 6 zeros.

    1. Hi Shankar,

      Kindly right click on cells and select format cells. Now select format special and manually type 11 zeros (00000000000) in type box. Hope this will solve your requirement.

  16. thanks for clear and simple explanation. it s very usefull

  17. Hello Svetlana,

    Hope you can help me on this project.
    I did manage to get it resolved by using vlookup however, I need to know if there's another way to do it.

    Here's a dummy example:

    1. Detail Tab
    Status Account Amount
    No Budget Apple $100
    Budget Pear $200
    No Budget Apple $200
    No Budget Orange $300
    Budget Banana $100
    No Budget Orange $500
    No Budget Apple $200

    2. Summary Tab
    Account Amount
    Apple $500
    Orange $800

    So, all I need is to bring the results automatically of the No Budget account from the Detail Tab into the Summary Tab which in this example are the Apple and Orange and their total as well to show as one.

    Is there another formula I can use?

    Thanks very much in advance.

    Henry

  18. Svetlana,

    I was trying to adapt your tutorial to my needs with no success. I have a workbook with hundreds of worksheets. Each worksheet represents a computer. Every worksheet is identically laid out, with 10 columns but varying rows, and every column has similar information. I have a formula that looks like this: =COUNTIFS(C:C,"high",J:J,"Open") and it counts the cells that have a High severity rating AND a check state of Open. I am trying to figure out how to take those two criteria from a row and put the value of the cell in the same row of column D into a cell. Column D is the RuleID of a vulnerability. So it would look like this: IF the value in column C is "High", and the value of column J is "Open", then place the value of column D ("SV-32245r1_rule") in this cell. Can you help me?

  19. Team,

    Am stack trying to use the index function but return the results as a horizontal array instead of vertical? Any idea how I can achieve this?

    Elvis

  20. Hi Svetlana,

    Thanks for such awesome explanation on excel functions.

  21. I am trying to solve a problem where I have two rows. Row 1 has Product Names eg PD1, PD2, PD3, PD4. Row 2 has corresponding quantity. When products are ordered by customers, I am trying to summarise for each customer what products they have ordered such as PD1, PD4. I have a formula that works but it is too long and makes it difficult to add another product.
    =IF(ISBLANK(L6),"",$L$3)&IF(ISBLANK(M6),"",", "&$M$3)&IF(ISBLANK(N6),"",", "&$N$3)&IF(ISBLANK(O6),"",", "&$O$3

    Is there some way of seeing that the cell is not blank and returning the corresponding Product Name. Thanks

  22. Hello,

    Thanks for all the info and help! When I added the "IFERROR" to the beginning of my formula (INDEX AND MATCH formula and it was working perfectly prior to adding the iferror feature)it removed the $ format from the cell. I cannot seem to find a way to format the cell to show it as currency.
    Can you please help.

    Bill

  23. Hi,
    I need help with a a report.
    I currently have a tab for every month of the year. I am collecting the employee's names which change every month and I have a column that collections notes based on their monthly performance.
    I also have a tab which i currently have set it up to collect the data from each monthly tab to show all notes in one place.
    My issue is that when I update the name list, the notes collected in the freeflow area, do not move with the employee. This is causing more manual work on my part to re-enter the comments every month.
    I would like for the performance comments to follow the agent's name no matter where they land in column 1.
    Can you assist?

  24. Hi Svetlana,

    Excellent article! I stumbled across it recently in my search to solve a dynamic lists issue I've been battling for almost a week now. My scenario:
    I have several sheets in my workbook:

    Sheet 1 contains a list of locations
    Col1 Col2
    LocationName LocationID
    Syndey 1
    Melbourne 2
    Perth 3

    Sheet 2 contains a list of courses
    CourseName CourseID
    Course A 1
    Course B 2
    Course C 3

    Sheet 3 contains a list the sessions for all of the course:
    SessionName SessionID
    Session 1 1
    Session 2 2
    Session 3 3

    Sheet 4 contains a list of date dates each course is run in each location:
    Col1 Col2 Col3 Col4
    ScheduleID Ref to LocationID Ref CourseID CourseDate
    1 1 1 14/01/2014
    2 1 1 18/03/2014
    3 1 2 23/10/2014

    Sheet 5 contains a list of the dates for each session for each course date:
    Col1 Col2 Col3
    Ref to ScheduleID Ref to SessionID SessionDate
    1 1 14/01/2014
    1 2 15/01/2014
    1 1 18/03/2014
    1 2 19/03/2014
    2 1 23/10/2014
    2 2 24/10/2014

    Here's what I want to achieve:
    Col1 Col2 Col3 Col4 Col5
    Location Course CourseDate Session SessionDate

    1. User selects Location from dropdown list(Sourced from Sheet1).
    2. User selects Course from dropdown list(Sourced from Sheet2).
    3. CourseDate dropdown list filters to only show matches for the selected Location and Course(Sourced from Sheet4). User selects CourseDate.
    4. Sessions dropdown list filter to only show SessionDates for the matching ScheduleID and SessionID (Sourced from Sheet5).
    5. SessionDate to auto poplulate with the matching record from Sheet 5.

    My data is set up as per the examples above as it's near impossible to create a separate list for each combination.

    Any help on who I can achieve this in Excel would be great.

  25. Is there a way to do a 2-way Index Match Max? I've only seen things posted to find Max on a standard Index Max, but not on an Index Match Match.

  26. DHAVAL KAMLESH RAMESH KAPIL
    500 1500 1950 1950 1950 RAMESH AND RAMESH
    25 2800 85 100 2800 KAMLESH

    =+INDEX($B$2:$E$2,MATCH(MAX(B4:E4),B4:E4,0))

    IF HAVE SAME AMOUNT 2 PARSON THAN WHICH FROMULA USE

    PLZ HELP

  27. A fantastic intro to the amazing world of 'match and index'.
    Thanks you.
    Chuck

  28. I want use 15 min time interval values (like 15:00, 15:15, 15:30, 15:45 ...........) from A1 to A10 in a excel sheet and if the value is >0 (like 15) in B1 to B07 (actual range is B1:B10) so now I want to print cell values in A (ranges A1 to A10) based on B (ranges from B1:B10) in line chart graph. Please Help me.

  29. Hey Guys,

    Does INDEX and MATCH excel formulas help us to compare two columns and return me the data that is not there in the former coloumn.
    For ex :
    Template 1 has a PL column with row data GLCA:GLUS:GLOBAL:WCH2:WAS2:CHINA:AUST:GLEEMEA:GLUS
    Template 2 has a PL column with row data GLCA:GLUS:WCH2:WAS2:CHINA:GLEEMEA

    I want the data that is missing in template 2 but available in template 1.

    Let me know what formula is the best...

  30. HEELO SIR,
    I HAVE A ROW NAMED NET PRICE.
    ON RIGHT HAND SIDE I HAVE THREE TO FOUR RECOMENDED PRICE ADJACENT TO COMMISSION.
    NOW THE CONDITION IS IF MY NET PRICE MATCHES WITH RECOMENDED PRICE WE WILL GET COMMISSION AS PER THAT PRICE.SOMETIME MY 2 TO 3 RECOMENDED PRICE MATCHES WITH NET PRICE AND I WILL RECIEVE THE MAXIMUM COMMISSION FROM THAT RECOMENDED PRICE.

    I AM MENTIONING THE FORMAT OF EXCEL BELOW
    NET PRICE RECO.PRICE COMM RECO.PRICE COMM RECO.PRICE PROMO
    145 145 50 145 55 140 65

    NOW PLEASE GIVE ME THE FORMULA WHERE COMMISSION OF 55rs IS TO BE DISPLAYED AS THERE ARE 4 TO 5 LAKH ROWS SO IT IS NOT POSSIBLE TO CALCULATE TOTAL COMMISSION MANUALY.
    THANK YOU

  31. Svetlana ,

    Thank you for this post. It was a very informative and was highly helpful for me. I always wondered whether Look up with multiple criteria was possible. Got my answer today. But then I was trying to use evaluate formula to understand how it was actually working. This caused my excel sheet close abruptly. Just wanted to know whether it was possible or not to do EVALUATE FORMULA for cases that use Array .

  32. Hi Svetlana,

    I have a query re comparison of Vlookup and Index/Match functions:
    I deal with large tables [rows close to half a million or more] and the problem I face with using Index/match functions to replace Vlookup for these reasons:
    1. The table rows do not match as a large table will have a look for criteria in a smaller table and vice versa.
    2. The two tables compared have multiple values relating to lookup or match criteria.

    I have been able to solve with Vlookup, if there are only two values or text for one criteria - repeat the Vlookup formula twice: one with FALSE and another with TRUE and if the values or text are repeated use an IF formula to display one value or unique values. But if there are more than two values or text I am able to extract only two and not more.
    Is there any more condition that can be nested in Vlookup other than FALSE and TRUE?
    Some of the tables I use have 4 lines of description and all the 4 lines need to be picked up.
    If you need further details I can send you a sample excel sheet with dummy data.

    Regards, Ramki

  33. Hi there,
    I have hundreds of employees, which were grouped. Each group has its own supervisor, my question is, is there any formula to apply that anytime I type the supervisor's name or employee Id., all his group will automatically display underneath???

  34. I am using the Index and Match function to compare the values from column A to the values in Column C, if there is a match found then I am returning the value from column D which corresponds to the cell that matched from column C. Below are the queries I have and any help you can provide is greatly appreciated.

    1. If the value that I am returning from column D exceeds 256 characters what do I do?
    2. If there are multiple matches found in column C then is there a way for us to populate all the values from column D [for the matched C cells] and put them in one single cell in the column A.

  35. Hi, I am using INDEX($D:$D, MATCH(A1, $B:$B, 0)) to find a value in column D corresponding to the row in column B where my search value is found. It works great.
    However, I now need to replace $D:$D with the result of a search. I.E. I want to search the column headers for a string to find the column I need to look down to find my value. I don't want to hard code $D:$D but make it variable based on where the header is. The reason is my imported data doesn't always put the value I'm looking for in column D but the header is always the same no matter what column it ends up being. Basically a search for a string in 1:1 that returns a column array instead of a column number. Hope you can help.

  36. I need help with a formula.
    In column B (Invoice Source A)I have a list of invoice numbers.
    In column C (Source A Description) I have the description for what represents column B.
    Column D (Invoice Source B) is a subset of the invoice numbers in Column B.
    Not all of the numbers in Column B are in Column D.
    Column E (Added Description for Source B)is blank.

    My Goal: I want Excel to look at the number in Column D and search for its match in Column B, then look in column C for the description and copy that description into column E.

  37. Hi, I have referred to your INDEX /MATCH with multiple criteria example.
    and have a one question on how do we GET the next result if there's a match or duplicate of those 2 criteria (1st being Dan Brown, 2nd being Apples)

    Dan Brown Apples $271
    Dan Brown Apples $300

    The first result will be $271 if formula is used correctly.
    How do I get the 2nd result? which is $300

    Very much appreciated.Thanks.

  38. There is an error on the MIN/MAX example table. The "Results" are listed incorrectly. You seem to have switched the MIN and MAX example answers.

  39. I am using the following formula and it is working fine. It is pulling dates. When I try to do a sort oldest to newest the dates change. Can you tell me if there is something in my formula that causes this?

  40. hi
    ok I'm using open office which does not have IFERROR.i have two lists of names one long(50 names)one short (10) each list also has a cell with a number in it.
    the number MAY change in the short list ,so I use vlookup to find the name from the long to the short and change the value in the cell,But if the name is not found its gives an error and I want the value in the cell(long list) to just stay as It is ,if the name is not found in the short list.
    I think index match might work but not a clue how to do it.
    So how do I do that please..
    john

  41. I have a formula which works well but I need it to go further and return a blank result if the source cell in the other sheet is also blank. Otherwise the formula returns the value "0-Jan-00", since the cell format is suppose to return the date from another tab. The current formula is:
    =IF((ISNA(MATCH($E4,Sheet!$H$9:$ACW$9,0)+4)),"",INDEX(Sheet!$H$10:$ACW$13,4,MATCH($E4,Sheet!$H$9:$ACW$9,0)+4))
    Thank you

  42. Hi I'm still unclear on where "1" came from in the chapter of "Look up with multiple criteria using INDEX MATCH"

    Is there any hidden formula to return "1" value ?

    1. Hi Jacob,

      I guess you are asking about this part of the formula:

      MATCH(1, (A2='Lookup table'!$A$2:$A$13),0) * (B2='Lookup table'!$B$2:$B$13)...

      There is no hidden formula, 1 is "hardcoded" in the Match formula as the lookup value. The formula checks two columns in the main table, column A ("Customer name") and columns B ("Products"), for matches in the lookup table. If the match is found, the above equation returns "1", otherwise "0". And that is why we use "1" as the lookup value, we just want the MATCH function to return an item's position only when both criteria are true.

      1. sorry for bothering you. as i'm beginner,i understand your intention why you put hardcoded "1". Without any formula like "if", excel current sytx enables user could compare and return either "1" or "0" ?

        1. Hi Jacob,

          Generally, yes. More precisely, the functions return the logical values of TRUE that equates to 1, and FALSE that equates to 0.

          In fact, I started to write a more detailed explanation for you, and ended up re-writing that part of my blog post :) Please check out the revised Look up with multiple criteria example. Hopefully the current explanation makes more sense. And thank you for your question!

          1. Thanks for your kindness :)

  43. Hi,

    I'm trying to get values of the sales, costs, and profit for each item number using Index Match function, but I want the function to loop through values in column A that contains the item numbers, until no more records. Below is sample data.

    Column A Column W Column X Column Z
    1234 10.00 20.00 30.00
    4567 20.00 30.00 40.00

    How do I do this?

    Thanks

    Javed

  44. I hope someone can point me in the right direction here. Here's my problem.
    I have a spreadsheet with extension number, and I want to match that extension number to a name on the list. The issue is sometimes the name will change but the extension number is reused, but I want to keep historical data. Here's the example:

    User1 had extension 2500
    A vlookup can quickly return User1 as the name, if it's the only occurrence.
    on 3/1/2016, User4 takes over and uses extension 2500.
    Now, I want to show all rows prior to 3/1/2016 with User1 name, and all rows after 3/1/2016 with User4 name.
    I'm not sure how to represent this...
    So I want to match both criteria, Date and Extension to come up with the name.
    Here's what I want to accomplish:
    Date Ext Name(vlookup)
    2/29/2016 2500 User 1
    3/1/2016 2500 User 4
    3/2/2016 8433 User 2
    3/2/2016 8434 User 3
    3/3/2016 2500 User 4

    My Lookup table is like this:
    Date Ext Name
    1/1/2016 2500 User1
    1/1/2016 8433 User2
    1/1/2016 8434 User3
    3/1/2016 8432 User4 (This extension is now repeated)

    Thank you in advance for your help!

    ADP

  45. I have a spreadsheet for taxes. On one sheet there is a list of per diem allowances for different cities and counties throughout the US. Some cities have different rates depending on the time of year. What I'd like to do is this.

    Look up the county specified in column F on sheet 1 in column D on 2015 Per diem Rates. Now if there are different rates at different times of year I need it to look at the date in Column a on 2015 and see what date range it falls between on 2015 Per diem Rates and then return the value in the corresponding row in column G.

    I hope I haven't lost you! I know it has to be possible but I'm

  46. My column A is DATE, column B has letters A-H which can repeat and varies with the dates, columns C and D have integers. I am looking for a formula to be in a cell in column E that can give me the value from either C/D if a cell value in column F (can be letters from A-H) matches with the letter in column B and the date is the MOST RECENT DATE. Thanks to everyone who can help me.

  47. hello,
    i am facing in some problem please give me a solution
    how to find out exact value

    like example: wihch is the highest value in "post" in texas
    (city, state), (post, texas)
    state - texas,in texas 3 city's for example
    city - post - 12.53%
    north post - 11.53%
    south post - 12.54%
    (city, state), (post, california)
    post - 15.40%

  48. I try to find and return value from pivot table to another excel list using formula "=IFERROR(VLOOKUP($A3,PIVOT!$A$4:$RX$361,MATCH(BOM!G$1,PIVOT!$A$4:$SC$4,0),0),)"
    but it's returning me value "0" instead of value that supposed to be founded in PIVOT.

    Can someone assist ne with creating or amending above formula.

  49. I've sent an example document to 'support@ablebits.com'.

  50. I tried to leave a comment but I can't see it, so I'll re-post. Please ignore this if the original did come through.

    I have some columns of production data from which I want to create a line graph. There are gaps in the data as there was no production during that particular time. I want to ignore the gaps, as they are irrelevant, and only graph the days when there was production.

    It appears that I need to use a combination of Index/Match + If + Small + Row to place the data points in a new column and then have the graph refer to the new column which only includes cells that have a value in an unbroken list.

    Thanks

Post a comment



Thank you for your comment!
When posting a question, please be very clear and concise. This will help us provide a quick and relevant solution to
your query. We cannot guarantee that we will answer every question, but we'll do our best :)