Excel VLOOKUP Array Formula Tutorial

By Ted French, About.com Guide

Entering the VLOOKUP Array Tutorial Data

When entering the data into an Excel worksheet, there are some general rules to follow to make it easier to use the VLOOKUP array formula:

1. Don't leave blank rows or columns when entering your data.
• Leaving blank rows and columns in data tables can make it difficult to use a number of Excel's functions - including VLOOKUP.
2. Enter your data in columns.
• When laying out your worksheet, list the names describing the data in the first column of the table and, to the right of that, the data itself.


• If there is more than one data series, list them one after the other in columns with the title for each data series at the top.
3. Sort your data by the first column alphabetically in descending order (A to Z).
• If you are unfamiliar with sorting data in Excel, here is a tutorial to help you out.

Tutorial Steps

1. Enter the data as seen in the image above into cells D4 to G10. If entered correctly the data will be sorted in ascending order by the first column.
• The first column of data (column D) contains the part names. The remaining columns (columns E to G) contain the information that we will retrieve with the VLOOKUP array formula.


• For those who do not feel like typing, the data and instructions for copying it into Excel, are available at this link.