SheetsLessons
Lesson 16 · Lookups

VLOOKUP Function

Learn VLOOKUP in Google Sheets with interactive practice: exact match, lookup values in cells, and approximate-match rate tables.

Task 1 of 3

Use VLOOKUP to find the price of the Marker Set. Answer in E2.

E2
fx

Tip: while typing a formula, click a cell or drag across cells to insert references. Press Enter to check, and Tab to accept a function suggestion.

Looking up values with VLOOKUP

=VLOOKUP(search_key, range, index, [is_sorted])
  1. search_key: what you're looking for (a value, or a cell containing it).
  2. range: the table. VLOOKUP always searches the first column of this range.
  3. index: which column of the range to return, counting from 1 at the left edge of the range (not column A).
  4. is_sorted: use FALSE for an exact match. That's what you want almost every time.
=VLOOKUP("Webcam", A2:C9, 3, FALSE)

Default gotcha: in Google Sheets, is_sorted defaults to TRUE. If you leave it off on unsorted data, you can get a wrong answer silently. Always type FALSE unless you mean it.

Approximate match (TRUE) is useful for brackets such as tax rates or commission tiers. It returns the row for the largest value that is ≤ your key. The first column must be sorted ascending.

VLOOKUP can't look to the left of the search column. For that, use XLOOKUP or INDEX + MATCH.