
XLOOKUP vs. VLOOKUP: Which Should You Use?
Excel has provided two ways to find something for a long time: the older, traditional VLOOKUP and the more recent, far superior XLOOKUP. Both will be very useful if you ever need to look up anything in your spreadsheets, but they are different. Here’s what each does, how they differ, and lots of examples so you can decide.
What is VLOOKUP?
The use of VLOOKUP helps people find information inside the table. If you have a long table, people will look from the top down within a column; it is kind of like asking an Excel Automation user to look at the value in a list and report back on some other column.
Example: Imagine you have a list of employees with their ID numbers, names, and departments, and you want to know the department for a specific ID.
Employee ID | Name | Department |
101 | Alice | Marketing |
102 | Bob | Sales |
103 | Carol | HR |
104 | David | IT |
To find the department of employee 102, you can use this formula:
Excel
Copy code
=VLOOKUP(102, A2:C5, 3, FALSE)
Explanation:
- 102: The value we’re looking up.
- A2:C5: The table range we’re searching in.
- 3: The column number to return data from (3rd column, “Department”).
- FALSE: We want an exact match, not the closest one.
Result: “Sales”
Limitations of VLOOKUP
VLOOKUP is useful but has some limitations:
1. Only Looks Right: It can only find data from columns to the right of where you start.
2. Fixed Column Numbers: If you add or remove columns, you have to update the formula.
3. No Built-In Error Handling: If it can’t find what you’re looking for, it shows an error (#N/A).
What is XLOOKUP?
XLOOKUP is like VLOOKUP’s smarter cousin! It does everything VLOOKUP can do but with extra features.
Example: Using the same employee list, let’s look up the department for employee 102 again:
Excel
Copy code
=XLOOKUP(102, A2:A5, C2:C5, “Not Found”)
Explanation:
- 102: The value we’re looking up.
- A2:A5: The range where we’re searching for the value.
- C2:C5: The range to return data from (column “Department”).
- “Not Found”: If it can’t find 102, it will return “Not Found” instead of an error.
Result: “Sales”
Benefits of XLOOKUP Over VLOOKUP
1. Search in Any Direction: XLOOKUP can look left, right, up, or down.
2. Flexible Column References: You don’t need to count columns anymore; just specify the range to return data from.
3. Better Error Handling: XLOOKUP allows you to set a custom message if it can’t find a match.
4. Faster on Large Data: XLOOKUP is optimized for bigger data sets.
When Should You Use XLOOKUP or VLOOKUP?
Situation | Use XLOOKUP | Use VLOOKUP |
Finding data to the left of the search | ✅ Yes | ???? No |
Simple exact match in small tables | ✅ Both work | ✅ Both work |
Handling errors with custom messages | ✅ Yes | ???? No |
Large data sets | ✅ Yes | ???? Slower |
Older Excel versions (before 2019) | ???? No | ✅ Yes |
Which Should You Choose?
The number is the number of columns left to go, and as we want to find departments, the number of departments is three, so the columns left to go are equal to three.
• Use VLOOKUP if you’re using older Excel versions or simple searches.
• If you have access to it, you should be using XLOOKUP; it’s faster, more flexible, and better at error handling.
Quick Tips for Transitioning to XLOOKUP
1. Replace VLOOKUP with XLOOKUP in New Projects: More flexible and future-proof.
2. Testing for Error: Let it not display errors, by using the if_not_found argument.
3. Ex-Combining New Functions with XLOOKUP: It can be used to get more insights into new functions such as FILTER, SORT, UNIQUE, etc.
Summary: If you have Excel 365 or later, XLOOKUP will make your life easier and give you more control over your data lookups. If you have an older version of Excel, VLOOKUP will do the job for basic lookups. Each has its strengths, so now you can choose the right one for your needs!
Discover our blog effortless data consolidation with VSTACK and FILTER in Excel—try these tips to streamline your workflow!
Comments are closed.