VLOOKUP help?

[JTSF]

Hi folks!

I have a problem that I think will be best solved by the VLOOKUP command, but I'm not quite sure how to get it working. Essentially, we would like to sort our currently out-of-stock products based on how many of that product we sold last year in order to create a production queue.

We have a document with two sheets:
-sheet 1: Column A contains a list of products from our store that are currently out of stock. Column B is empty apart from a heading.
-sheet 2: Column A lists all of the products we sold last year. Column B lists the # of each sold. The sheet is sorted by column B, in descending order.

We would like a formula to go through column A of sheet 2, looking for any of the products listed in column A of sheet 1. When it finds the name of one of the out-of-stock products, we would like it to copy the quantity sold from column B of sheet 2 and put it in the corresponding row in column B in sheet 1.

I have attached a simplified version of our document below.

We would greatly appreciate any help you all could provide!

Thanks,
Julia

[ELeGault]

Have you tried to make the VLookup Yourself?

Please google VLookup and understand how it does a vertical lookup between the set range you define. Based on that range how many columns over do you want to pull the reference from... 1 is the first column, being that this data is between columns A and B or 1 and 2, you want 2 so it returns the need. False is for an EXACT MATCH, TRUE will give you Likeness matches (Most of the time we will use FALSE as that is typically the ideal scenario in a lookup... Exact Match)... The question to True or False is Do you want an Approximate Match?

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[JTSF]

Thanks so much! Yes, I looked it up and tried to make it work for a long time. I'm not very experienced. But your example worked great and now I understand more about VLOOKUP. All sorted! I really appreciate the help.

[AliGW]

Next time you start a thread, please choose a more descriptive thread title.

Tell us what you are trying to do, not how you think it should be done. Your title should be explicit and not be generic (this includes function names used without an indication of what you are trying to achieve).

Please see Forum Rule #1 about proper thread titles.

If that takes care of your original question, please select Thread Tools from the menu link above and mark this thread as SOLVED.

Also, if you have not already done so, you may not be aware that you can thank those who have helped you by clicking the small star icon (* Add Reputation) located in the lower left corner of the post in which the help was given. By doing so you can add to the reputation(s) of all those who offered help.

[JTSF]

Thank you Ali, I re-read the Forum rules and have been trying to learn what they look like in use. If you have a moment I would really appreciate understanding what a good thread title would be for this question. For this thread, would it have been better to call it "Looking for help with formula to return data after searching in another page"? Or is there a less vague way to say it? I am so new to Excel that I don't know what seems obvious or vague to people who are experts. I understand now that putting the formula type isn't the best idea. I thought I was being helpful by doing that but I realize there are many ways to solve a given problem so it's a mistake to start from there. Thanks for that input! And I totally understand if you don't have time to reply, I'll be here learning as I go! Julia

[AliGW]

That would have been better - yes. A function name tells us nothing, and the one you’ve chosen may not be appropriate anyway.

However, your opening post mentions sorting, so that would need to be in your title, too. Essentially, what you are trying to achieve is your title.

[JTSF]

Thank you!