Hi - Dave here.

How do you do a left lookup with INDEX and MATCH?

This is actually a trick question. Unlike VLOOKUP, INDEX and MATCH doesn't care about lookup direction at all.

You can see how this works in the worksheet below. The formula in H5 is:

=INDEX(data[Item],MATCH(G5,data[ID],0))

The MATCH function finds the value in G5 (1003) in the ID column, and provides the position to INDEX, which returns a value at that row. The fact that the values being returned come from the left of the ID column makes no difference.

Example of a left lookup with INDEX and MATCH

[download the workbook and read the full explanation]

The article provides a detailed explanation and includes the Excel workbook used in the example. I also show how to use XLOOKUP to get the same result. Download the workbook and try it out yourself.

Excel formulas

We maintain a large list of working formulas here.

If you need more structure, we also offer video training.

Have a fun and safe weekend!

Dave

 

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