Your Lookup Table Can Go Across
April 13, 2022 - by Bill Jelen
![Your Lookup Table Can Go Across Your Lookup Table Can Go Across](/img/excel-tips/2022/04/your-lookup-table-can-go-across.jpg)
Problem: Someone built this lookup table going across the worksheet. How can I use VLOOKUP
?
![The lookup table is built going across instead of down. F2:Q2 contains Jan through Dec. F3:Q3 contain the bonus rate for each month.](/img/content/2022/04/LE10000435.jpg)
Strategy: The “V” in VLOOKUP
stands for Vertical Lookup. Excel also offers an HLOOKUP
for horizontal lookup tables. If you are in a bizarre mood, you could actually use HLOOKUP
: =HLOOKUP(B3,$F$2:$Q$3,2,FALSE)
.
Alternate Strategy: You will most likely do what I and every other person using Excel does: Copy F2:Q3. Select cell F5. Do Paste, Transpose. This turns the lookup table back so it is vertical. Then you can do a VLOOKUP
.
This article is an excerpt from Power Excel With MrExcel
Title photo by Ryoji Iwata on Unsplash