Trouble with VLOOKUP not finding data

Question

Col A has ItemID Col B has Model_Num Col C has a long list of Model_Num . In Col DI want to lookup the Model_Num of Col C and put the ItemID

item_id (colA)        model_num (colB)   to match (colC)  new data (colD)
--------              ----------         ---------        ---------
870834                FD021              KPA8A            14667122
16595156              S3TA03B            BW01B            #N/A
10752514              FD1424B            GM1500B          #N/A
10756167              SU03B              TA021            #N/A
14667130              KDAD               FD021            870834
14667122              KPA8A              FD021            870834

In the new data column (colD) I'm using the formula:

=VLOOKUP(C1,$A$1:$B$114,2,FALSE)

It's returning #N/A for everything though. Any help is appreciated.

Answer 1

You have a mistake in your VLOOKUP formula and/or the way your data is organized by column. VLOOKUP can not be used to look up values to the left of the lookup value in the VLOOKUP table - you would have to use an INDEX/MATCH function to do that - or you could just do this.

1) You could cut and insert your column A(item_iD) to the right of your current column B(model_num). Then adjust your VLOOKUP formula appropriately. (So basically your item_id and model_num columns are backwards currently).

If you want to keep your column order "as is" then you will need to use an INDEX/MATCH function which I can certainly provide:

=INDEX($A$1:$B$114,MATCH(C1,$B$1:$B$114,0),1)

Leave your data as is and put that in the top cell column D and then autofill down. It should give you what you want.

Good Luck.