The Most Important Excel Function You Will Ever Learn

FACT: Out of 400+ functions in Excel, VLOOKUP has been selected as THE indicator of Excel skills.

Don’t look at me, it wasn’t my decision.

So let me ask you this… Can you do a VLOOKUP?

If your answer is “no,” or a lukewarm “kinda sorta,” this video is perfect for you!

In this Excel VLOOKUP video tutorial, I break down all the 4 arguments of the function, and translate them into plain English (what a concept!)

Use the VLOOKUP function to look up an input value (usually an ID number) on a reference table and spit out another value that’s associated with it.

A common example is to look up a Product ID Number, and use it to find the price of that product from a price list.

VLOOKUP Arguments Explained:

  • lookup_value = What value do you want to use to find other values?
  • table_array = Where is the lookup table of other values?
  • col_index_num = Which column number (relative to the lookup table) is the data you want to find located in?
  • range_lookup = Do you want an Exact Match (FALSE) or Approximate Match (TRUE)?

Note: I highly recommend practicing this function over and over again until you get the hang of it. It’s quite challenging, but also extremely powerful.


As a bonus, I’m also attaching a downloadable excel spreadsheet from the video so you can try it out for yourself:

If this was helpful, do me a favor and send this to someone who’s about to go on a job interview, or spends a good amount of time in Excel. You’ll be making their day, and mine!

Also, leave a comment if any part of the VLOOKUP function still mystifies you, or simply share a time when you used VLOOKUP and it made your life 257% easier. Either way I’d love to hear from you!

Happy VLOOKUP’ing!

P.S. Got a quick Excel question? Click here for on call Excel help
P.P.S. Seriously, stop wasting hours on Google! Hop on a call with me and move on with your day!

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