The main limitations of the VLOOKUP function are: VLOOKUP can only look up values to the right on the lookup_value. i.e. the lookup only works left to right. You'll need XLOOKUP, or INDEX MATCH for a right to left lookup.
The major drawback of VLOOKUP is its ability to only look from left to right in a table. The lookup value must always be to the left of the value to return or VLOOKUP will not work. When we construct a VLOOKUP, we specify a col_index_num which must always be positive.
The only limitation of the LOOKUP Function is that it's not completely dynamic. If, for example, you wanted to be able to change the output column from Age to Country, you'd need to manually change the formula to refer to a different column.
VLOOKUP could only search for a value in the first leftmost column of a data range. Similarly, HLOOKUP could only search for a value in the top row of the range: When the key field is to the right of the range you want to retrieve, VLOOKUP will not work.
Text values or data types do not match
Another common reason for VLOOKUP failure is the difference between your lookup value and a similar value in the lookup column. In some cases, the difference is so subtle that it's hard to spot visually.
Limitations of VLOOKUP in Excel
This means you cannot use it to search for a value in a different column of the lookup range. VLOOKUP is not case-sensitive, so it may return incorrect results if the lookup value is in a different case than the data in the lookup range.
A VLOOKUP can produce unexpected results for a couple of different reasons which are listed below; The VLOOKUP is set to produce an approximate match rather than an exact match. There is more than one lookup value within your table array. In this case it will return the first value that it finds.
Although very useful to link data from multiple tables, the Excel VLOOKUP function quickly becomes unable to calculate in an acceptable amount of time. On large Excel files, it can take up to an entire hour to recalculate your spreadsheet, with most of the time application failure in the middle.
XLOOKUP can look for values to the left and right of the lookup array, while VLOOKUP is limited to only looking for values to the right of the lookup value column. XLOOKUP allows you to customize text when a valid match is not found, while VLOOKUP only shows you an #N/A (error sign).
A VLOOKUP will be used if the Member IDs are in a column. The HLOOKUP will be used if the Member IDs are listed in a row. Lists are usually in columns, hence VLOOKUP is used more often in practice than HLOOKUP.
The Lookup activity can return up to 5000 rows; if the result set contains more records, the first 5000 rows will be returned. The Lookup activity output supports up to 4 MB in size, activity will fail if the size exceeds the limit. The longest duration for Lookup activity before timeout is 24 hours.
The best way to battle this VLOOKUP limitation is to switch to its rival functions – INDEX-MATCH. The =INDEX() and =MATCH() functions, when used together, can overcome this VLOOKUP limitation. You can use them together to perform a lookup in any direction in the lookup table (something VLOOKUP can't afford).
Because the return column is specified as an index number, a VLOOKUP formula stops working as soon as a new column is added to or removed from the table array. A lookup value is limited to 255 characters.
Even if you forget all other details about horizontal lookup in Excel, please remember this essential one - Hlookup can only search in the top-most row of the table. If case your lookup values reside in some other row, an N/A error is returned. To overcome this limitation, use an INDEX MATCH formula.
99.99% of the time, everybody uses FALSE as the range lookup criteria because 99.99% of the time, we need an exact match from the table array. Even in the training sessions, your trainers must have explained only FALSE criteria and would have said not to worry about the TRUE criteria.
The superior alternative to VLOOKUP is INDEX MATCH. While VLOOKUP works fine in most cases, it tends to reveal flaws when you start using it in large and complex sheets. The INDEX MATCH formula is actually two different functions; INDEX and MATCH. array is range of cells or an array constant.
Well, VLOOKUP is designed to return a single value, not multiple values. That is, VLOOKUP scans down the lookup range and stops at the first matching row … ignoring any additional matching rows. Once VLOOKUP finds a matching row, it shoots to the right to retrieve the related value from a single column.
VLOOKUP will only work if the lookup value is in the first column. VLOOKUP cannot look to its left. However, INDEX MATCH solves this problem as it performs the lookup both horizontally and vertically. So, it doesn't require the lookup value to be in the first column, it can be anywhere.
When you need to find information in a large spreadsheet, or you are always looking for the same kind of information, use the VLOOKUP function. VLOOKUP works a lot like a phone book, where you start with the piece of data you know, like someone's name, in order to find out what you don't know, like their phone number.
To make the VLOOKUP formula work correctly, the values have to match. If the problem is caused by text numbers in one place, and real numbers in another, do the following to fix the problem: convert the real number to text, so both values are text. or, convert the text value to a number, so both values are numbers.
Answer: Yes, VLOOKUP can handle alphanumeric data in Excel. It's a function that finds a specific value from a huge data table.
One way to improve VLOOKUP is to move the best-selling items to the top of the lookup table. Get a report of the top 100 best-selling items and move those items to the top of the list. Sorting by popularity improves the recalc time to 0.369 seconds. This is eight times faster than the first result.
With very large sets of data, changing to approximate-match VLOOKUP can mean a dramatic speed increase. This is because VLOOKUP will assume data is sorted and use a different algorithm to speed up searching, sometimes called a binary search.
VLOOKUP must be utilized for looking into values from Left to Right. INDEX MATCH can look into the qualities from Left to Right as well as Right to Left. VLOOKUP just can query through vertical lines, for example, segments, and not through columns. INDEX MATCH can query values through lines as well as segments.