CODEWITHSUNDEEP
excel-formulavlookup
user3740620
user3740620

Reputation: 65

ms excel 2007, vlookup #n/a error

This question is an extension of this - click me:

So I have 7 ordered checkboxes, generating 128 possible combinations of being checked/unchecked. Each checkbox is linked to a cell showing its state - true =1, false =0.

I then have a cell that concatenates the states of all 7 check boxes into a 7 digit string, e.g. 1000011 or 0000000 or 1110011, etc - providing a lookup value for my lookup table (which designates each possible combination to a piece of text).

The problem I am having is that vlookup is not finding the strings beginning with a leading 1, e.g. 1000001, or 1110000, or 1001110, etc, but strangely is matching one of the strings beginning with a leading 1 - "10000000". In other words, when I select only the first check box of the 7, I get text. When I select the first check box in addition to any combination of the other 6, I get an #N/A. When I deselect the first check box, with any combination of the others, I get text. Odd, I know.

Could anyone help with this?
Thanks in advance.

Upvotes: 0

Views: 267

Answers (2)

Ricardo88
Ricardo88

Reputation: 34

You might check if format at origin is equal to all values at destination, I mean, if you have for example 1000001 in lookup field as NUMBER and at lookup table you have the same value as TEXT, VLOOKUP never going to find it, because to Excel is not the same thing a value as NUMBER and a value as TEXT.

I'm almost sure that in your lookup table you have some values as NUMBER; to solve it you have to select only the column of your lookup table when you have all the possible combinations, then go to Data -> Text To Columns, then click Next -> Next -> Choose 'Text' Option -> Finish

Let us know if that worked for you.

Upvotes: 2

miroxlav
miroxlav

Reputation: 12194

Short answer: Supply FALSE as 4th VLOOKUP() parameter.

If it is omitted, range search is supposed to be TRUE and in such a case order of items in VLOOKUP() list matters, because they are understood as thresholds, not as singular values.

From VLOOKUP() help:

Lookup_value The value to search in the first column of the table array. Lookup_value can be a value or a reference. If lookup_value is smaller than the smallest value in the first column of table_array, VLOOKUP returns the #N/A error value.

And now read carefully:

Range_lookup A logical value that specifies whether you want VLOOKUP to find an exact match or an approximate match:

If TRUE or omitted, an exact or approximate match is returned. If an exact match is not found, the next largest value that is less than lookup_value is returned.

The values in the first column of table_array must be placed in ascending sort order; otherwise, VLOOKUP may not give the correct value. You can put the values in ascending order by choosing the Sort command from the Data menu and selecting Ascending. For more information, see Default sort orders.
If FALSE, VLOOKUP will only find an exact match. In this case, the values in the first column of table_array do not need to be sorted. If there are two or more values in the first column of table_array that match the lookup_value, the first value found is used. If an exact match is not found, the error value #N/A is returned.

Upvotes: 2

Related Questions