How to Use the Lookup Function in Excel

Last Updated: March 28, 2023

Whenever you keep track of data in spreadsheets, there'll come a time when you want to find information without having to scroll through endless columns or rows. We'll show you how to use Microsoft Excel's LOOKUP function to find a value from one row or column in a different row or column. If you're looking to do a reverse Vlookup, check out How to Do a Reverse Vlookup in Google Sheets.

Steps

1
Create a two column list toward the bottom of the page. In this example, one column has numbers and the other has random words.
2
Decide on cell that you would like the user to select from, this is where a drop down list will be.

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3
Once you click on the cell, the border should darken, select the DATA tab on the tool bar, then select VALIDATION.
4
A pop up should appear, in the ALLOW list pick LIST.
5
Now to pick your source, in other words your first column, select the button with the red arrow.
6
Select the first column of your list and press enter and click OK when the data validation window appears, now you should see a box with an arrow on, if you click on it your list should drop down.
7
Select another box where you want the other information to show up.
8
Once you clicked that box, go to the INSERT tab and FUNCTION.
9
Once the box pops up, select LOOKUP & REFERENCE from the category list.
10
Find LOOKUP in the list and double-click it, another box should appear click OK.
11
For the lookup_value select the cell with the drop down list.
12
For the Lookup_vector select the first column of your list.
13
For the Result_vector select the second column.
14
Now whenever you pick something from the drop down list the info should automatically change.