Vlookup not working

[Guest]

I am using VLOOKUP with a range of part refs some are numeric only, some are
alphanumeric.

My lookup is working fine with the alphanumerics, but not the numerics.
Please help. I have tried formatting all refs in each worksheet as text to
no avail.

 

[Dave Peterson]

Formatting a cell to text won't change the value.

You'll have to do more to convert the number numbers to text.

If the lookup table has real text in it and there are real numbers in the value
to lookup, you could change your formula:

=vlookup(a1&"",.....

By concatenating the empty string "" to the value, you've made it text.

You could do the same thing in another column:
=a1&""
and drag down
then convert to values
and delete the original column of data.

=====
If you have to fix both the lookup table's key column and a column to match, you
could use:

Data|Text to columns
fixed width
(don't separate anything)
Choose Text as the field type.
(be aware that this will eliminate both leading and trailing spaces, though.)