How to Use VLOOKUP in Google Sheets 

VLOOKUP is a popular function in Google Sheets that allows you to search for a specific value in a column of data and return a corresponding value in the same row from another column. In this tutorial, we will walk you through how to use VLOOKUP in Google Sheets.

How to Use VLOOKUP in Google Sheets 

To use VlookUp in Google Sheets, you need to follow these steps.

1. Set up your data

Before you start using VLOOKUP, you need to make sure your data is set up correctly. You should have two sets of data: the first set contains the value you want to look up, and the second set contains the corresponding value you want to return. For example, you might have a list of employee names in one column and their net salaries in another.

Consider the data shown above. The serial number is the key for using the VLOOKUP function. 

2. Understand the VLOOKUP Formula.

The basic syntax of the VLOOKUP formula looks like this

=VLOOKUP(search_key, range, index, [is_sorted])

• “search_key” refers to the value that you want to find in your range of data.
• “range” refers to the range of cells that you want to search for. This should include at least two columns of data: the first column contains the search_key value and the second column that contains the value that you want to return based on the search_key.
• “index” refers to the column number in the range that contains the value you want to return. For example, if your range of data includes columns A and B, and you want to return the value in column B that corresponds to the search_key value in column A, you would enter “2” for the index.
• “[is_sorted]” is an optional argument that specifies whether the range of data is sorted in ascending order. If this argument is set to TRUE or omitted, VLOOKUP will assume that the range is sorted in ascending order and will use an approximate match method. If this argument is set to FALSE, VLOOKUP will use an exact match method.

Overall, the VLOOKUP function is used to search for a specific value in a range of data and return a corresponding value from a different column in the same row. It’s a very useful tool for data analysis and management in Google Sheets.

3. Apply VLOOKUP FORMULA

=VLOOKUP(search_key, range, index, [is_sorted])

Our key in this case is serial number. So, we wrote I5 as a serial number. The range is the entire data range that we want to look up. We are looking up the Employee Name in the data which is the second column. So we provided an index as 2. And we set is_sorted to false. 

Now when we will enter the serial number, it will automatically locate the name.

And for net Salary, we will do the same.

Net salary is in the 5th column in the original data, so we wrote the index as 5. The rest is the same. It shows the corresponding values of the employee name and salary with respect to the serial number.

If we change the serial number, VLOOKUP will automatically change the values. 

In conclusion, VLOOKUP is a powerful function in Google Sheets that can save you a lot of time and effort when working with large sets of data. By following the steps above, you should be able to use VLOOKUP effectively in your own Google Sheets spreadsheets.