On Demand Webinar

Time-saving lookup functions allow you to quickly find the specific information you’re looking for, such as pay rates, item prices, accounting results, etc., thereby eliminating the need to manually link to specific cells. In this presentation, Excel expert David Ringstrom, CPA, introduces several lookup functions, including VLOOKUP, HLOOKUP, MATCH, and CHOOSE, and provides context on when you’re likely use them. He demonstrates troubleshooting techniques and prepares you to deal with subtle issues that can prevent lookup functions from working properly.

David demonstrates every technique at least twice: first, on a PowerPoint slide with numbered steps, and second, in Excel 2016. He draws your attention to any differences in Excel 2013, 2010, or 2007 during the presentation as well as in his detailed handouts. David also provides an Excel workbook that includes most of the examples he uses during the webcast. 

Topics typically covered:

• Employing the SUMIF function to sum values related to multiple instances of criteria you specify.

• Exploring why VLOOKUP sometimes returns #N/A instead of a desired result.

• Future-proofing VLOOKUP by referencing entire columns when available.

• Future-proofing VLOOKUP by using Excel’s Table feature versus referencing static ranges.

• Implementing Data Validation to ensure users make choices that VLOOKUP will recognize as valid.

• Improving the integrity of spreadsheets with Excel’s VLOOKUP function.

• Learning what types of user actions can trigger #REF! errors.

• Reconstructing spreadsheet data to use VLOOKUP as a better alternative to nesting IF functions.

• Simplifying multiple-field lookups with concatenation (combining fields into a single cell).

• Troubleshooting other errors VLOOKUP can present, such as #REF!, #NAME!, and #VALUE!.

• Understanding situations that cause Excel’s VLOOKUP function to return #REF! instead of a value.

• Understanding the importance of absolute references within many lookup functions.

Learning objectives:

• Apply the VLOOKUP and HLOOKUP functions.

• Define what user actions can trigger #REF! errors.

• Recall how to deal with subtle issues that can prevent lookup formulas from working properly.

• Recall how to use the MATCH worksheet function to identify differences between two lists.