Lookup Match From List

[Helen842000]

Hello all!

I am working on two worksheets and need to cross reference them. I would appreciate any help.

On worksheet one I have a long list of data with many duplicates and an empty column for category number. They're in a specific order. The names run from A3 to A371. The category number column is currently blank and I would like it to be filled via lookup.

-------A-------------B----------
----NAME--------CAT NUM----
-----BOB----------------------
-----ALICE--------------------
-----BOB----------------------
----EMMA--------------------
----ALICE--------------------

On the second worksheet I have unique entries (1 per name) and their associated unique category number

-------A-------------B----------
----NAME--------CAT NUM----
-----BOB-----------5050------
-----ALICE---------5051------
-----EMMA---------5051------

The unique names run from A2:A237 and the category numbers run from B2:B237

Is there a simple way I can look up the category number and output it into the B column on the first worksheet?

I'd really appreciate any advice, even a pointer as to what function I should be considering would be very useful.

Thank you!

 

[Woznymj11]

Try this formula by pasting it into your sheet 1 column B values. In the formula you will see that I referenced sheet 2, change the name to be the sheet your unique data is.
=VLOOKUP(A3, Sheet2!A:B, 2, FALSE)

Hope this helps.

 

[Helen842000]

Hello Woznymj11, thank you for your reply!

I've pasted the VLOOKUP formula into my column B on sheet1 however I get #N/A. My sheets are called Sheet1 and Sheet2 so that is correct.

I'm not sure if I need to specify the range for the VLOOKUP, any suggestions would be great!

Thanks again!

 

[Helen842000]

Ah-ha! I deleted the Sheet2! and range out and then put it in again by physically selecting the array and changed FALSE to TRUE (approx match is ok as they're all very different names) it worked straight away!

Awesome, I'm really pleased! You saved me a LOT of work there, thank you!

Have a great weekend!