Left Vlookup in Excel

Hi reader,

Vlookup is one of the most used Excel functions. Nevertheless, it only allows to search values on the right side of a table. Lets find out how to overcome it with the following example:

Consider that we have a "Reference" to search in the table and we want to get the "Model" and "Segment". We should use the following function: "=INDEX(Table_Range;MATCH(Lookup_Value;Lookup_Column;0);Column_Number) where:

• Table_Range: Table where we want to search the information (e.g. D1:I11)
• Lookup_Value: cell we want to search on the table (e.g. B3)
• Lookup_Column: column where Lookup_Value should be searched in the table (e.g. F1:F11)
• Column_Number: table's column number where the output column is located (e.g. 1 for "Model", as it's the first table's column; 2 for "Segment", as it's the second table's column)

Hope it makes your spreadsheets easier.