Comments on: Excel VLOOKUP not working - solving #N/A and #VALUE errors

The tutorial explains how you can quickly cope with VLOOKUP not working problems in Excel, troubleshoot and fix common errors and overcome VLOOKUP's limitations. Continue reading →

Comments page 2. Total comments: 228

  1. Hi
    Whenever i perform a function, say IF. The formula doesn't wanna give the results. It pops a message saying There's a problem with this formula. But when i use the very same IF function on a different Excel (Laptop), its giving me the complete results.

    I even retrieved my old work where I applied the functions and accessed the cell then clicked enter to check it, it now says "there's a problem with this formula"

    what would be the reason, Is there something i can do with the formula to work perfectly?

  2. When using vlookup formula. It's as if it's just typing in the box. Not actually processing the formula. Does anyone why why this is?

    1. Hi,
      I’m sorry but your task is not entirely clear to me. For me to be able to help you better, please describe your task in more detail. Please specify what you were trying to find, what formula you used and what problem or error occurred. Give an example of the source data and the expected result.
      It’ll help me understand it better and find a solution for you.

  3. Thank you! I couldn't figure out why I kept getting that darn N/A error message. Your tip about putting the lookup column as the first column on my lookup table resolved my issue!

  4. Hi
    I am doing Index and Match it does no work in the whole column and appear as N/A. The message comes up that the column is not synchronised.
    Would anyone help how can I solve the problem?
    My Excel is 2007.

    Thanks

    1. Hello!
      If an INDEX MATCH formula in Excel cannot find a lookup value, it produces an #N/A error.
      Unfortunately, without seeing your data it is difficult to give you any advice. Please provide me with an example of the source data and the expected result. Please specify what you were trying to find, what formula you used. It’ll help me understand it better and find a solution for you.

  5. hi Alexander,

    You were right.
    The trim and cleam formula =trim(clean(a2)) works very well

    THANK YOU!

  6. hi

    I am using Vlookup on a very long list of "itemnumbers."
    These "itemnumbers" consist of a combination of letters and numbers.
    Some consist of numbers only.
    Some consist of letters only.

    All columns were set as text, prior to pasting the values.
    Very often, Vlookup does not correctly find all of the "itemnumbers" which consist of numbers only.

    0000123456789 vlookup does not find this
    000123ABC0012 vlookup does find this
    ABCDEABCDEXYZ vlookup does find this
    ABC7890123456 vlookup does find this
    8888885521111 vlookup does not find this

    To fix this, i can go into each cell [F2] then hit [ENTER]
    After that, vlookup does find a match.

    Does anybody know of a better way to do this?

    ---
    By the way,
    The "extra spaces" problem, I usually "solve" by CTR+H … then replace empty spaces with nothing
    That obviously works only when the data is not supposed to have any empty spaces
    --

    1. Hello!
      I could not repeat your mistakes. Your data may have come from another program. The data may contain extra spaces and non-printing characters. You can learn more about deleting spaces and non-printing characters in Excel in this article on our blog.

      1. hello Alexander

        Thank you for trying.

        yes, the data comes from different sources
        1 huge list of itenmumbers from an ERP (with all sorts of info in other columns)
        1 huge list of itemnumbers from another source (with different info in other columns)
        I then use vlookup in excel to combine the data in 1 sheet.

        To be able to do so, first i get all data to .dat or .txt to remove formats
        Then I set a new empty excel sheet to text completely (not to general / not to number) this is very important.
        Then I copy/paste values only to excel.

        If there are any empty spaces, these are deleted with the CTR+H (find space and replace with nothing, works perfectly.)

        To me, the resulting values from both sources look identical.
        Excel does correctly match all of the text fields which contain a combination of letters and numbers (even if the first character is a zero 0)
        Excel does correctly match all of the text fields which contain letters only.

        However, excel does not correctly match the textfields which consist of numbers only.
        By chance I found a labour intensive workaround
        (after hitting ENTER while reviewing the data in a cell which should have been found by Vlookup.. suddenly the Vlookup did work for that 1 cell)

        ...so... I hit [F2] [ENTER] many, many times... and then it does work.

        I was hoping somebody would know of a more efficient way.
        Maybe there is some trick to mimic [F2] [ENTER] in all cells of a column.

        1. Hello!
          Your data contains some kind of non-printable characters. I recommend using the article, the link to which I gave you earlier. I think this will help.

  7. I applied vlookup from a sheet...the sum of result which I got through vlookup is greater than the sum in the original file ...how is this possible?

  8. IN MY WORKSHEET BY MISTAKE I PRESSED SOME KEYS. IT SHOWS AS #VALUE! ... I TRIED IN MANY WAYS . BUT I COULDN'T GET IT AGAIN. ALL THE TEXT ENTRIES ONLY CHANGED AS #VALUE!. IN A WORKBOOK ALL THE 4 SHEET GOT THE SAME PROBLEM. GUIDE ME HOW TO SOLVE IT?

  9. Hi there,

    Can someone help me with this formula for vlookup?

    =VLOOKUP(P$1:P$32424,'Report 341.05'!A1:AM56914,17,FALSE) is not bringing me any data in the spreadsheet.

    Please help.

    Thanks!

    1. Hello!
      Without seeing your data it is difficult to give you any advice.
      But Lookup_value cannot be a range (P$1:P$32424). Lookup_value can be a value (number, date or text), cell reference (reference to a cell containing a lookup value), or the value returned by some other function.
      You can learn more about VLOOKUP in this article.

  10. Does anyone know why when typing a vlookup statement, the cell displays something like this =vlookup(A2,Table_Name,8,false). excel does not run the statement? just displays the characters of the statement. TIA

  11. So my current issue is number with decimals. I got several sets of data with 123456.xyz. XYZ changes on each of them. I tried to vlookup with first 6 numbers, it wont detect if there is decimals involved. Any work around for that?

      1. Thanks for the reply, tho in my case number after decimals important for me so rounding doesn't help. I was basically looking a way to sort the numbers based on values before decimals as they are fixed and values after decimals change. I guess VLOOKUP function can't help with that. Back to the drawing board!

  12. ANOTHER POSSIBLE REASON VLOOKUP GET #N/A

    If the lookup column has multiples of the same value it confuses lookup and will cause the #/NA error. In other words, the lookup value must have a unique presence in the lookup column.

    1. Hi Jason,

      In case of multiple matches, VLOOKUP returns the first found match. This may be confusing in many situations, so I agree that you'd better have unique values in the lookup column.

  13. I am having a format issue with vlookup.
    If I copy from the vlookup data sheet like an id number it will work but if I type the id number it will return #NA.
    - both data and input sheet have the column set as numbers
    -tried copying and pasting the formatting from data to input sheet
    Any help is appreciated :)

    1. Hello!
      Unfortunately, without seeing your data it hard to give you advice.
      If your numbers are derived from calculations, I recommend using rounding. Your numbers may differ in decimal place, which is not shown on the screen.

  14. one cell is having more than 100 values. so vlookup failed and getting NA but if use find it finding the value.

  15. Hi. Really appreciate the write up. I am using excel for Mac. I used vlookup to match serial numbers. For the serial numbers, I have to use the tick mark ' to keep leading 0s. Vlookup is not matching not matter what I have tried. The odd thing is that if I double click in the first cell in the array table, the tick mark is removed and the match occurs. I am trying to avoid double clicking on thousands of cells to make vlookup work. Any ideas? Kind of urgent for a data conversion. THANKS!

    1. yeah me experience this weird error too. please any tips ASAP.

  16. Thank you so much. Really appreciate it.

  17. The above guide still not solve my problem. I still
    Hitting NA# in the VLOOKUP after I done edit or amend the cell format. Can I send u the file ? And you help to point out the issue ?

    1. Hello Victoria!
      I’m sorry but your task is not entirely clear to me. For me to be able to help you better, please describe your task in more detail. Please specify what you were trying to find, what formula you used and what problem or error occurred. Give an example of the source data and the expected result.
      It’ll help me understand it better and find a solution for you. Thank you.

  18. I have a simple VLOOKUP table with unordered data. I have set up the formula properly (set to exact match, to lookup value in left col and return value in the right). Format is general for both the array and for the col of values being looked up (I don't have, for example, numbers with the apostrophe in front, indicating that they are text. The formula works for all values, except as follows:
    ANY VALUE THAT CONTAINS PARENTHESES RETURNS AN #N/A, EVEN THOUGH THE IDENTICAL VALUE IS IN THE LEFT COL OF THE ARRAY. I have checked character counts, I have used EXACT in a sample case to confirm that the values in the array and in the col of values that I am looking up are identical—there are no extra spaces. I have deleted the parens and confirmed that I get a value, not an #N/A. I have replaced the parens with slashes—the formula works. I HAVE REPLACED THE PARENS WITH BRACKETS—THE FORMULA RETURNS AN #N/A.
    Is this a known bug?

    1. Hello!
      I’m sorry but your task is not entirely clear to me. For me to be able to help you better, please describe your task in more detail. Give an example of the source data and the expected result.
      It’ll help me understand it better and find a solution for you. Thank you.

      1. Thanks, Alexander! It's real simple—I am trying to confirm that a value in one col of my doc appears verbatim in another. Here is the set up:
        Col A
        value 1, 2, 3, etc. [different value in each row—the values are not ordered]
        Col B
        OK [I use the value "OK" in each row]
        Col C
        value 1, 2, 3, etc. [different value in each row—there cannot be a value in C that does not appear in A]
        Col D
        =VLOOKUP(C4;$A$1:$B$75;2;0) [this is the formula in row 4 of the doc—the first cell reference, Cx, always matches the given row]
        I want to this formula in D to give me an #N/A if the value in C is not found in A, but an "OK" if the value in C appears in A. Very simple.
        However, what I discovered is that, as soon as there are parentheses in the value, it doesn't matter if the value in C appears in A exactly as it appears in C—I get an #N/A. When I delete the parens in both A and C, I get my OK instead of the #N/A.

        I am familiar with the problems created for EXACT, vLOOKUP, and other formulas by trailing space, by numbers converted to text, and so on. I am pretty confident that my problem is not due to these issues. Instead, I think the appearance of parentheses or brackets in the text causes vLOOKUP to fail. I was hoping folk could confirm—and perhaps supply a workaround. (Yes, I can replace the parens with another character before using vLOOKUP. Might there be something else to do in the formula?)

        Thanks for any light you can shed!

        1. Hello!
          The problem with parentheses in the VLOOKUP function is unknown to me. This did not cause problems for me. Maybe after the bracket there is still a space or some non-printable character? Try using the TRIM or CLEAR function:

          = VLOOKUP(CLEAR(TRIM(C4));$A$1:$B$75;2;0)

          I hope this will help, otherwise please do not hesitate to contact me anytime.

  19. My formula was VLOOKUP(C2,Sheet2!A2:B45,2,FALSE). The expectation was that the output should be the value from column B on Sheet2 if there is a match. However, it never returned a value. Any ideas?
    A similar VLOOKUP worked on the same sheet with no issues.

    1. Hello!
      Your VLOOKUP formula has no errors. I don’t know what values you are looking for, but I suppose it is text. Perhaps there are extra spaces, non-printable characters in the text. I recommend checking for extra spaces and non-printing characters, as described in this article.

  20. Hi ,
    While using Vlookup ,
    Lookup value is a formula based reference created using the formula
    "=TRIM(LEFT(A4,5)&MID(A4,10,3)&RIGHT(A4,4))" . A4 cell value is = 10211-40-000-0000.
    after allpying the above formula i get value as "102110000000" in B4.
    Now if i put vlookup or index match taking "B4 cell" as lookupvalue i m getting error as "#N/A" . However if paste special the same cell with values the formula works fine .
    Can you please help me on this sir ?
    Thanks in Advance
    Regards
    Praveen L

  21. That has really fixed my problem after long time searching, Thank you !!

  22. The numbers formatted as text gets me every time

    1. Hello Pat!
      Please describe your problem in more detail. It’ll help me understand it better and find a solution for you. Thank you.

  23. Hi
    How do I get the 0 to return as text in my formula, this leads on to pivot table and if it can find the value it presents as text but if it cant it presents as value so I get two lines in my pivot? =IFERROR(VLOOKUP(A2,'[Works in RAMM by month 19-20.xlsx]Sept to June 20'!$A$1:$L$276,12,FALSE),"0 ")
    thanks Mo

    1. Hello Maureen!
      If I understand your task correctly, maybe the following formula should work for you:

      =IFERROR(VLOOKUP(A2,'[Works in RAMM by month 19-20.xlsx]Sept to June 20'!$A$1:$L$276,12,FALSE),"0" & " ")
      Hope you’ll find this information helpful.

  24. i am having a lookup related problem when i am applying lookup function to a cell which does not contain the actual data but there is formula applied to get the value from other two cell so now lookup is unable to look for that cell where formula has been filled but when i am typing actual value in that cell lookup function is working correctly but when there is a formula which is showing correct value lookup function is unable to work .
    For example lookup can look for a value 3 and search it in an array but when there is two column containing 1 in first column and 2 in second column and now in third column i am using formula to add them simply so i sum them and now the value i am getting is 3 in third column but when i am applying lookup function to it. It is showing #N/A as usual but when instead of formula i am directly typing the value 3 in third column the lookup formula works perfectly so any solution on this will be helpful.

    1. Hello Rajat!
      I need more information on your problem to help you.
      Most importantly, what function are you using for a search? Is it VLOOKUP or anything else? Please give me the formula which is performing a search.
      What data are in the cells which that formula is referring to?
      Please describe your search in more detail, and I will be able to help you.

      1. Hello Alexander,

        I have a similar problem like Rajat. The 'lookup_value' reference in my Vlookup function is actually a cell with formula which is =RIGHT(A1,3). But vlookup is unable to read this and returning #N/A error, if I manually put the result of =RIGHT(A1,3) then vlookup is able to return the result. Also please note that if the result of the function =RIGHT(A1,3) is text then it work but unfortunately my result for this function is a number, so I guess this has something to do with formatting of the cell or something.

        GK

        1. Hello!
          Calculation result RIGHT(A1,3) - always text. If you need to search for a number, then I recommend using = VALUE(RIGHT(A1,3))

          1. I had the same problem,

            Thanks

          2. Hi

            Working perfectly!!! Thank you so much!!!

            GK

  25. hello,

    can you help me_ please. This function =IFERROR(SVYHLEDAT(A3;'M (3)'!A3:I9988;3;1);"Not")
    do not describe. Why?

    Thanks

  26. VLOOKUP() will fail if, "the lookup column is not sorted in the ascending order." Well, that's just stupid.

  27. This is very helpfull.

  28. When using vlookup, I can get the correct results for most of the table. When I get down to the last 4 lines of the table, it gives me results from previous lines when i change the lookup data. I have resorted the table multiple times but always get the same incorrect response.

  29. I am using vlookup to copy values from one table to another. Many of the values have been copied, but not all. Those that have not been copied are showing #NV. I have checked for all the possible reasons for the error, corrected some, but the problem persists and has not changed at all. I even tried INDEX/MATCH with no avail. Any Idea what could be the cause?

  30. Thank you for this, very helpful!

  31. Thanks for this outstanding reference, much appreciated! Also, good to know I'm not the only one that struggles with this in Excel.

  32. When using vlookup, the formula only displays moot the value. No error messages. Any ideas?

  33. Hi, i use vlookup to match in the completion status from another file. but then some of my cell does not capture the formula and turn out the result is wrong. would anyone please help me out in this matter.

  34. i am using vlookup from another sheet, i have entered 3 entries that is ok but when i am doing next entry it pulls value from wrong row. please help me i have my file if you ask me i can mail you my file.

  35. Another possible issue: special characters in lookup value. E.g. tilde ~. Solution would be to duplicate this character: VLOOKUP(SUBSTITUTE(C1,"~","~~"),A:B,2,false)

  36. excellent ,thank you

  37. Trying to do a vlookup on a table that is 1000 rows and 26 columns. If I try to get the value in the 13th column, it works fine. However, if I try for any column greater than that I get a #REF! error. All columns have valid data. Formula is =VLOOKUP($a1,TableSheet!$A:$Z,15,FALSE). Any ideas?

    1. If you want to get work done, and run into excel misbehaving, go find an old copy of Lotus 1-2-3, install it, copy your data in and do your lookups there. The Lotus vlookup function isn't nearly as stupid or sensitive as excel, and doesn't require the lookup table data to be sorted just so to work properly.

  38. I have data in two different excel files. I tried to input VLOOKUP manually.
    After inputting =Vlookup(A2, I tried to jump to other file and received error for formula correction.
    Can you please help me to resolve this issue?

  39. =VLOOKUP(IF(BC10>=130%,"130% & Above",IF(BC10<70%,"0.0 - 69%",ROUNDDOWN(BC10,2))),INDIRECT(BL10),2,0)
    so the result should show rating
    Sales Target RM25mil & Above
    Rating Rating Range Ach % Rating Ach %
    Outstanding 4.75-5.00 126% - Above 5.00 130% & Above
    4.94 129%
    4.88 128%
    4.81 127%
    4.75 126%
    4.50-4.74 121% - 125% 4.74 125%
    4.68 124%
    4.62 123%
    4.56 122%
    4.50 121%

  40. Very Useful - keep up the good work ( share the knowledge..sharing is caring )

  41. THANK YOU. THIS IS QUITE USEFUL.

  42. The iferror function work greatly, the if(iserror way may still produce #VALUE! cells.

  43. I did a vlookup and the output showed this number (15359E+11) instead of the actual digits. I have not had this kind of error before. Please advise.

    1. Just convert it to NUMBER

  44. Hi,

    I have problem with vlookup, if i perform the vlookup in the same file with different sheets, the formula is giving me partial results. However if i vlookup the same data from a different excel file, its giving me the complete results.

    what would be the reason, Is there something i can do with the formula to work perfectly within sheets?

  45. =IF(K9="one",IFERROR(VLOOKUP(N9,[One.xlsx]Ledger!$A$12:$BI$29,3,FALSE),"No Data"))&IF(K9="two",IFERROR(VLOOKUP(N9,[Two.xlsx]Ledger!$A$12:$BI$29,3,FALSE),"No Data"))&IF(K9="three",IFERROR(VLOOKUP(N9,[three.xlsx]Ledger!$A$12:$BI$29,3,FALSE),"No Data"))

    Result FALSEMANISHA BISTAFALSE

    how to remove FALSE

  46. Hello.
    I have an issue with a vlookup that, I am certain is structured correctly.

    When I double click to have the cells auto-polulate with the vlookup formula, most calculate correctly. However, a handfull will calculate as #N/A. When I look at the formula, somehow the second parameter has changed to exclude a portion of the array or table.
    This =VLOOKUP(D3,A3:B22,2) should read like this =VLOOKUP(D3,A1:B22,2).

    What can I do?

  47. I am having problems with my Vlookup, the trouble shooting I have done is making sure the lookup value lengths are the same on both spreadsheets and the formats of the lookup cells are the same, I have also done an error check on both spreadsheets everything should be working fine but the formula result is not showing. What could I be doing wrong? =VLOOKUP(TRIM($A2),Sheet1!$A:$P,8,FALSE) this returns a 0 value, if I change false to true no value and it should be returning a value of 160.

  48. I am having trouble with my Vlookup after I had got it working. I'm not sure if the list is just too big or formatted wrong. I have it in the left most column searching a different sheet. I'm updating a mailing list with a list I already have and pulling from unique numbers that are between 5 and 6 digits. For whatever reason these digits are no longer working for the vlookup. I have tried to make them text and number and it just won't pull any data no matter how small I make the vlookup. Even just 3 cells that do contain the numbers. I'm am at a loss. I can't make it work, even though it should work.
    =Vlookup(B2,Sheet1!B2:Sheet1!F10,2,FALSE) even with "TRUE" it isn't working. I tried Hlookup as well. (I have a list of over 35k, should I just make smaller lists?)
    Is it because of the numbers being between 5 and 6 digits?

  49. Ugh, sorry for the bother, I found the issue. I had corrected the spelling of scullcap from skullcap in the table but hadn't resorted it.

  50. I am using Microsoft Excel on a Mac. I've used VLOOKUP for years in very complicated models with no issues. I am now stumped: I have a simple table that works for VLOOKUP for all words except those that begin with "Se" up until words that begin with "Si". So if I look up values that go with Sammy, it's fine, with Stan or Tiger, all fine, but it just returns zeroes if I look up values that go with Selma, Shark, Siam, etc. What gives?

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 :)