<Is VLOOKUP limited to searching only the left-most 3 digits?>
No. But you probably have text and numbers mixed. 37, for example, can be a
number or can be text and for Excel they're different.
You can check with the ISTEXT() or ISNUMBER() function. Since part of your
data is text, make it all text.
Your formula is still incorrect; the 1st argument must be only one cell and
you need a 4th argument, set to FALSE.
Then you can copy down your formula as far as your data goes, like in
=VLOOKUP(C1,'[POK AFE Detail.xls]AFE Detail'!B

,3,FALSE)
Note that the 3 should be a 2 if your data is in column B, like in your
example.
--
Kind regards,
Niek Otten
"Brentp97" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:AACBA803-21ED-4076-9AB0-(E-Mail Removed)...
>I want the formula to be generic, and it works, except when the values
>being
> compared have 4 or more digits.
>
> Here is a simplified example of my spreadsheet:
>
> Spreadsheet #1 (w/ formula):
>
> Col. A Col. B
> 37 formula
> 108B formula
> 201 formula
>
> Spreadsheet # 2 (w/ data):
>
> Col. A Col. B
> 37 30Y0A
> 37 61120
> ...
> 108A 647980
> 108B 647103
> ...
> 201 15F2C
>
> When Col. A matches in each spreadsheet, I want my formula to find the
> unique value listed in Col. B of Spreadsheet # 2 for the matching value
> listed in Col. A.
>
> Is VLOOKUP limited to searching only the left-most 3 digits?
>
> "Niek Otten" wrote:
>
>> The first argument of VLOOKUP should be one cell, not an entire column.
>> For
>> exact matches, you need a fourth argument which should be set to FALSE.
>> Now what are you trying to match with what and if there is a match, what
>> should happen?
>>
>> --
>> Kind regards,
>>
>> Niek Otten
>>
>> "Brentp97" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
>> news:9CE0C5B8-5385-446E-AEEC-(E-Mail Removed)...
>> > My formula reads:
>> >
>> > =VLOOKUP($C:$C,'[POK AFE Detail.xls]AFE Detail'!B
,3)
>> >
>> > $C$C contains values such as 3a, 101, 235f...
>> >
>> > Column B contains the same values as above.
>> >
>> > Column D on contains values such as 30Y0A, 64766899, 647598...
>> >
>> > So basically, I am asking my formula to match exact values in 2 columns
>> > (on
>> > seperate worksheets) and give a corresponding result from another
>> > column.
>> > It
>> > seems to work if the columns being compared have 3 or less characters,
>> > but
>> > not with 4 or more characters.
>> >
>> > I hope this helps. It's hard to describe without viewing the file
>> > itself.
>> >
>> >
>> > "Niek Otten" wrote:
>> >
>> >> What is your formula and what data do you use? What results did you
>> >> get?
>> >>
>> >> --
>> >> Kind regards,
>> >>
>> >> Niek Otten
>> >>
>> >> "Brentp97" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
>> >> news:5CD9AEE4-0F92-4327-AA09-(E-Mail Removed)...
>> >> >I am attempting to create a cross reference between 2 spreadsheets.
>> >> >I
>> >> >am
>> >> > currently using the "VLOOKUP" function to obtain my results. The
>> >> > problem
>> >> > that I have run into is the values being compared & the desired
>> >> > output
>> >> > can
>> >> > contain both numbers and text (some only contain numbers). The
>> >> > formula
>> >> > I
>> >> > am
>> >> > using will work only on numbers. How can I get this to work for a
>> >> > combination of both text and numbers?
>> >>
>> >>
>> >>
>>
>>
>>