Vlookup error

**odan** · 03-16-2011, 11:43 AM

Hi,

So I have File#1 and FIle#2

I had a formula that I unfortunately lost to reference Column A(Postal Code) in File#1 with Column A(Postal Code) in File#2 and to report back the number in Column B(ID number) in File#2.

I searched a bit and found =VLOOKUP(A4, '[REF.xls]ALIGNMENT REF'!$A$2:$B$25258)
which looks like what I had before but it gives me an error that says "Too few arguments"

A4 = column a in File #1
[REF.xls] = File #2
ALIGNMENT REF = Sheet
$A$2:$B$25258 = Column A and Column B in File #2

Does anyone know what I can do to make this work?
Thank you!

**NBVC** · 03-16-2011, 11:44 AM

You probably want:

=VLOOKUP(A4, '[REF.xls]ALIGNMENT REF'!$A$2:$B$25258,2,FALSE)

**odan** · 03-16-2011, 11:50 AM

Yes! That worked!
Thank you so much!

**odan** · 03-16-2011, 11:59 AM

Ok, so I have that formula which works in those two files,

but I want to use it somewhere else too

I have 2 columns of postal codes in the same sheet and one has an ID number next to it. Why is my formula not working? I thought I understood before but it seems not so..

I took the formula above and just changed the locations. What else do I need to change?
=VLOOKUP(D3,A3:B25260,2,FALSE)

**NBVC** · 03-16-2011, 12:05 PM

You need to put the $ signs around the A3:B25260 so that when you copy down it freezes the lookup range.

This formula looks for the value that is in D3, and tries to find it in A3:A25260. If it finds it, it returns the corresponding value from column B, else it returns the #N/A error.

**odan** · 03-16-2011, 12:16 PM

I added the $ around the A and the B like you showed me in the first formula but it still gives me #N/A ?

=VLOOKUP(B2,$E$2:$F$25260,2,FALSE)

**NBVC** · 03-16-2011, 12:21 PM

That means that B2 is not matching exactly to column E entries.

Check for additional spaces in any of the cells...

If you are trying to look for a number, check the formats, if the formats seem okay, then select column E and go to data|Text to columns and just click Finish.