VLOOKUP Google Sheets: the four arguments and the errors Google lists

The four arguments, in Google’s words

Google Docs Editors Help gives the formula as =VLOOKUP(search_key, range, index, [is_sorted]). The search_key is the value to search for in the first column of the range, and a cell reference is supported. The range is the upper and lower values to consider for the search. The index is the column of the range that holds the return value; it must be a positive integer, the smallest possible index is 1, and the largest is the number of columns in the range. Google says to imagine the columns of the range numbered from left to right starting with 1, and that VLOOKUP only looks to the search key column, when the index is 1, or to columns further right.

The return value is the first matched value from the selected range, and there is only one return value from each VLOOKUP function. Google’s own example is a table of fruit: =VLOOKUP(“Orange”, B4:D8, 3, FALSE) returns $1.01, the value in the third column of the range. The same Google page opens with a version for BigQuery, with other argument names and a tip pointing BigQuery users to XLOOKUP; this page follows the section for Sheets.

Exact or approximate: the fourth argument

The fourth argument is optional. Google says FALSE gives an exact match and is recommended, while TRUE gives an approximate match and is the default if is_sorted is unspecified. Google strongly recommends using FALSE because its behaviour is consistent whether or not the search key column is sorted, and says to always specify is_sorted for readability, even though the input is optional.

An approximate match searches down the search key column until it finds a value larger than the search key, then stops on the row before and returns the value from the return value column on that row. In Google’s example, an ID of 102 that does not exist returns the row for 101, the closest value that is smaller. Before using an approximate match, Google says to sort the search key column in ascending order, otherwise the function may return a wrong value. With FALSE and no exact match, the result is #N/A.

The guides do not all describe the argument this way. IONOS, in a guide dated 28 March 2025, says the optional is_sorted suffix defines whether the column to be searched is sorted: FALSE if it is not, TRUE otherwise. Google’s page ties the same argument to the kind of match instead: FALSE for exact, TRUE for approximate.

Wrong values and errors, as Google lists them

Google’s troubleshooting section names several causes. With is_sorted set to TRUE and a first column that is not sorted in ascending order, change it to FALSE. VLOOKUP gives only the first match, so with several matching search keys the value returned may not be the one expected. Values with leading or trailing spaces look alike but VLOOKUP treats “ Apple”, “Apple ” and “Apple” as different, so Google says to remove the spaces first.

On #N/A, Google says that if exact match is used and the search key is not found in the first column, the result is #N/A, and that IFNA() can replace it, as in =IFNA(VLOOKUP(G3, B4:D8, 3, FALSE),“NOT FOUND”); for other errors such as #REF!, Google points to IFERROR(). A range with an index larger than its number of columns is a mistake to avoid: count the columns from the selected range, not the entire table, and start from 1. For #VALUE!, Google lists an index typed as text or a column name, an index smaller than 1, and a missing quote around a text search key. For the range, Google recommends absolute references, as in VLOOKUP(G3, $B$3:$D$7, 3, FALSE).

Several criteria and wildcards

Google says VLOOKUP cannot be directly applied on multiple criteria. Its method is a helper column that combines the existing columns with &: in its example, =C4&D4 joins a first and a last name, and the search key then points at the joined value. Wildcards work as partial matches: a question mark matches any single character and an asterisk matches any sequence of characters, and Google says that to use them you must use an exact match, FALSE. Its example =VLOOKUP(“St*”, B4:D8, 3, FALSE) matches anything that starts with “St”.

What the guides add

Measure School, in a guide with the last modification dated 7 January 2025, answers how to use VLOOKUP from another tab: modify the range into an array with curly brackets, adding the range of each tab separated by semicolons. For data in different spreadsheets rather than tabs, it uses IMPORTRANGE to import the range and then uses that imported range as the range of the VLOOKUP. Coupler.io, in a guide dated 5 August 2025, says VLOOKUP itself works within one Google Sheets document and nests it with IMPORTRANGE for another spreadsheet, and wraps several VLOOKUP formulas in curly brackets, each with a different column index, to return more than one value. The Google page we read describes neither another tab nor another file.

The questions in Google’s People also ask box are how to use VLOOKUP between two sheets, how to use it step by step, whether a VLOOKUP can be done between Excel and Google Sheets, and what the equivalent of VLOOKUP in Google Sheets is. The answers below follow those pages. For the Excel version of the function see VLOOKUP in Excel; for its successor, XLOOKUP.