Vlookup returns #VALUE! until the lookup_value is edited.

[Steve H]

My vertical lookup function "=vlookup(c101,custlist,3)"
returns "#VALUE!" in every instance unless I edit the
lookup_value. If I manually reenter the lookup_value or
simply hit F2 and then Enter, the function works. It is
comparing a customer ID no. (the lookup_value, such as
14079) to a customer database and returning the customer
name. I have tried formatting the lookup_value cells as
text, general, fixed 0 decimal, etc. in conjunction with
the same formatting applied to the table, but it only
seems to work when the lookup_value is "edited". Any
thoughts? Thanks.

 

[Max]

Try using VALUE() to wrap your lookup_value
E.g. use: =vlookup(value(c101),custlist,3)