Categorize Values in Excel

Hi reader,

How many times do you have plenty of data entries, with different values, and you just want to a quick overview over it? Bellow you will find an example with the right solution:

You have lot of records (in the example is the table A1:D2883) and you want to categorize the values on it (in the example column D).
To do so you should:

1. Create an auxiliary table with the values you want to combine (e.g. table H1:I6). 
2. Start on the first category, defining the lower value for the interval (e.g. 0, on cell H2 ) and its name (e.g. <5000, on cell I2). Repeat the step for the remaining categories you want to create (e.g until row H6:I6).
3. Add a column in the main data, with the following function on the first cell (e.g. cell E2):
• "=VLOOKUP(value_to_search;auxiliary_table;column_from_auxiliary_table with_group;1)" where:
• value_to_search: value you want to categorize in the main table (e.g. cell D2)
• auxiliary_table: auxiliary table built on step 1 and 2 (e.g. table $H$1:$I$6)
• column_from_auxiliary_table with_group: column from the auxiliary table built on step 1 and 2 which you want to paste on the main table (e.g. number 2, as it is the 2nd column from auxiliary table)
4. Copy this cell and paste on the remaining column cells (e.g. copy cell E2 until cell E2883)

Hope it makes your spreadsheets easier.