Quick fix
Symptom: VLOOKUP returns #N/A, wrong matches, or wrong columns.
Most likely fix: Use FALSE for exact match, check lookup column position, trim spaces, and verify data types.
Step-by-step checks
- Confirm the formula, column, measure, or range where the issue appears.
- Check whether the source values are numbers, text, dates, blanks, or errors.
- Test the formula on one simple row so you can isolate the logic.
- Remove extra wrappers like IFERROR temporarily so the original error is visible.
- After the formula works, copy it to the full range and check totals.
Common causes
- Mixed data types, such as numbers stored as text.
- Hidden spaces or inconsistent spelling in lookup values.
- Wrong relative or absolute cell references after copying formulas.
- Ranges that do not cover the full dataset.
Useful test formula
=ISFORMULA(A2)Use simple test formulas to check whether a cell contains a formula, number, text, blank, or error.