Need to fill in a cell behind a cell in another tab when 2 values match.

Hi guys,

Perhaps a weird request but I'll try and explain it as good as i can.

I have 2 worktabs. let's say tab 1 and tab 2.
Tab 1 is the work file, tab 2 is where tab 1 get's it's information.

On tab 1 I have the following fields:

-----A-----------B
1--Kevin

A1 of tab 1 is a dropdown menu that get's it's values from row A on tab 2.

On tab 2
------A-----------B
1--Kevin -------Kev
2--Xander------Xan
3--Alex----------Ale


Now what I'm trying to do is the following.
I want it to be that when i select, let's say Kevin, on tab 1, it automatically fills in the right value in B from row B in tab 2. But if i select Xander from the dropdown in A1 it needs to recognize Xan should be in B2 of tab 1.

Now I got this done with
=IFS(EXACT(A1;tab2$A1);tab2;$B$2)
(this formula is a rough translation from dutch, so it might look weird)
The trouble is that I won't be the only one working on the file and the file will be a general file used in different projects with different names. so the formula needs to work no matter how many names are added to the dropdown.

So I'm trying to make it so that if I pick Kevin, it searches in row A of tab 2 if it finds a match, if it then finds a match i want it to place the value of the B cell behind the match back into B1 in tab 1.

I hope it's understandable and thanks in advance for the help!

Hi Glenn,

You're my new hero haha.
I figured I'd need to use the vertical search, but it was never really clear to me how it worked exactly.

Now the file works like a charm and i finally understand vertical search and what i did wrong haha.

Thank you!