Where INDEX-MATCH Wins Over XLOOKUP and VLOOKUP

/in /by

I was surprised with a situation where someone insisted that INDEX/MATCH was his only choice for a formula. I wondered “why INDEX/MATCH?” Why not VLOOKUP, XLOOKUP or a Power Query join?

When I saw his data and the restrictions that were on him, this was clearly a context where INDEX/MATCH was the wiser choice.

There are other functions and formulas that could be used to accomplish this task, but a small twist to the INDEX/MATCH function does the trick.

For a list of my Excel courses at Lynda/LinkedIn:
https://www.linkedin.com/learning/instructors/oz-du-soleil
There are courses on Power Query, Good spreadsheet habits, and a weekly Excel challenge that comes out every Friday.

Website: https://ozdusoleil.com

My book: Guerrilla Data Analysis 2nd Edition

My old blog: http://datascopic.net/blog-2-2