VLOOKUP returning #N/A sporadically

[Bobbo Jones]

HI all, I am using this formula in my 2nd sheet
=VLOOKUP(M1,Pallette!M2:X16163,12,FALSE)
filled down on a sheet with about 3000 entries. I am trying to confirm that my data in 1 very important column in sheet 2 is correct, by checking it against other entries in Sheet 1, (called Pallette) which I know are accurate.

On many occasions, instead of returning the required answer, it returns #N/A
Ok so some times, this is correct. The searched for value doesn't exist on the Pallette, therefore #N/A makes sense.
But other times, I can go to the pallette, and hit find all, and the value will come up, with no differences to the searched for value.

If the Value exists, why can the function not find it? Or can it just not handle something else in the function?
any ideas?

Thanks in advance!
Bobbo

[Bobbo Jones]

Whoops! i left out a ($)
my bad.

[Tony Valko]

Did that solve the problem?

See this link for common problems associated with lookups:

http://contextures.com/xlFunctions02.html#Trouble