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I have a dropdown that selects from several text "keys," like so:

List of items: Pathetic,Untrained,Novice,Adept,Master,Amazing

I'm trying to use these keys to run a lookup on a separate sheet, with the following formula:

=LOOKUP(R3,Calculations!B2:C7)

Where R3 is the cell with the dropdown, Calculations is the sheet in question, and from B2 to C7 the cells are like this:

| Pathetic  | 1 |
| Untrained | 2 |
| Novice    | 3 |
| Adept     | 4 |
| Expert    | 5 |
| Master    | 6 |

However, I only seem to be able to get it to return the number 6, the final value in the attempted lookup table. Am I missing an argument?

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  • The VLOOKUP accepts a third and fourth argument as well. Try setting that to 2 and 0. Oct 2, 2014 at 18:59
  • Tried =VLOOKUP(R3,Calculations!B2:C7,2,0), but same result.
    – Tigt
    Oct 2, 2014 at 19:05
  • If R3 = 'Master' then this would be the correct answer.... Oct 2, 2014 at 21:02

1 Answer 1

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Please try:

=vLOOKUP(R3,Calculations!$B$2:$C$7,2,0)  

For LOOKUP (as opposed to VLOOKUP) to work properly the data must be sorted.

The anchors ($) are in case say the formula was to be copied down (eg to return a value from R4). Without them the array range would slide down automatically until by R9 the search would be of Calculations!B8:C13.

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  • Thanks for the explanation! When you say the data must be "sorted," is that a more specific state that I have to inform the program of?
    – Tigt
    Oct 2, 2014 at 20:00

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