#REF returned on Vlookup

When I use

=VLOOKUP(J2,Data!$C$2:$C$15000,2,0) when looking at email addresses ([email protected]) with a result being datetime- mm/dd/yyyy hh:mm:ss

the return is #N/A when the cells do not match, abd I get #REF when they do match.

What am I not seeing?

If you have 2 as the "Column index" then you need at least 2 columns in the range, you only have 1, hence #REF! try this version

=VLOOKUP(J2,Data!$C$2:$D$15000,2,0)

That looks up J2 in Data column C and returns the corresponding value from column D, is that what you need?

Originally Posted by sinflspeed

What if I wanted to return a left six using that same formula?

Sorry, I'm not exactly sure what you mean - do you mean you want to return a value from a column 6 columns to the left of the lookup range?

If so VLOOKUP can't do that (it always "looks" to the right) - try using INDEX and MATCH, e.g. to match A1 with column G and return a value from column B

=INDEX(B:B,MATCH(A1,G:G,0))