2 vlookups in 1 formula

[Dummy Excel]

Hi All,
im trying to put 2 vlookups into 1 formula although I just cant get it to work properly. Can someone please help!
vlookup 1

=VLOOKUP(C3,Sheet2!AD:AE,2,0)

vlookup 2

=VLOOKUP(C4,Sheet2!B:I,8,0)

appreciate your help
Sam

 

[Dryver14]

are you trying to concantanate the result?

 

[Dummy Excel]

no
basically there could be 2 different responses in 2 different fields. So trying to lookup the first response, if its blank, then display the second response

 

[JazzSP8]

Try something like;

=IF(VLOOKUP(C3,Sheet2!AD:AE,2,0)="",VLOOKUP(C4,Sheet2!B:I,8,0),VLOOKUP(C3,Sheet2!AD:AE,2,0))

HTH

 

[Dummy Excel]

ok, ive slightly changed the formula so suit my application more and i have found that the formula works correctly sometimes although for other cells it doesnt.
my formula now is

=IF(D3="Available","",IF(VLOOKUP(C3,Reverse!AD:AE,2,0)="",VLOOKUP(C3,Reverse!$B$1:AP2001,41,0),VLOOKUP(C3,Reverse!AD:AE,2,0)))

although if i change the first & 3rd vlookup and place it as the 2nd, and place the 2nd vlookup and place it in the first and 3rd, the formula works for that cell although not right across the data. How can i have one formula to work for both cells?

thanks

 

[Dryver14]

it looks like you could just use if statements in some cases. what is in C3? are you just trying to say if C3=AE or are you searching the whole columns?

 

[Dryver14]

In fact the more I look at it the more wrong it is, once you have performed the vlookup on B1-AP2001, the last piece of the formula is redundant

 

[Dummy Excel]

ill explain in more detail....
i run maintenance for trucks, excavators and excavator trailers - the 3 items are a complete combo. We treat the truck as one unit and the excavator and excavator trailer as another unit (cant transport an excavator without a trailer).
So what im trying to do is if there is something wrong with a trailer we mark it as "unavailable" (otherwise its "available" for use)but at the same time i need to mark the excavator as "unavailable"

in the raw data;
Column B is the registration column of the trailer
Column AD is the registration column of the excavator
Column AP is the original fault for the trailer
Column J is the progress update comments of the repair
Column AE please ignore as it should be AP

hope this helps