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INDEX MATCH in Excel

INDEX and MATCH together do what VLOOKUP does, but they can look left, they don't break when you insert columns, and they're faster on big sheets.

How it works

=INDEX(return_range, MATCH(lookup_value, lookup_range, 0))

• MATCH finds the position of the value (the 0 means exact match).
• INDEX returns whatever sits at that position in the return range.

Example

=INDEX(B2:B7, MATCH(95000, D2:D7, 0))

That returns the name of the person earning 95,000. The Name column is to the left of Salary, which VLOOKUP can't do.

Practice: look left

Two-way lookup

=INDEX(B2:E7, MATCH(G2,A2:A7,0), MATCH(H1,B1:E1,0))

Match a row and a column at the same time.