problem with vlookup

[ruchie]

I am matching two sheets of data to each other through vlookup, and
even though i know that there are matches, vlookup isnt returning
them . the data in both the sheets in the same workbook is of the same
format (text) and all leading and trailing spaces have been removed,
still i cant get it to work for me.
can someone help me out?

 

[Don Guillett]

You didn't post your formulas

 

[Rodrigo Ferreira]

Did your workbook is ordered?

 

[ruchie]

the formula im using is

=VLOOKUP($E2, 'in AP'!$A$2:$M$206, 5, FALSE)

'in AP' is the name of the worksheet im getting the table array from.
the field im searching on contains numbers and text both, but i
changed everything to text format as well.
the data is sorted too. any idea why it isnt working even when im sure
that the formula is right?

 

[Peo Sjoblom]

No need to sort anything when you look for an exact match, it simply is that
although they look the same they are not the same. I am assuming you get the
#N/A error. How do you know you don't have invisible characters like html
char(160) etc?

 

[Rodrigo Ferreira]

Try this:

=INDEX('in AP'!$A$2:$M$206,MATCH($E2,'in AP'$A$2:$A$206;0),5)

 

[pshepard]

Hi Ruchie,

Try:

1) the following formula to compare two visually matching values:

=EXACT(E2,'in AP'!A121)

This is using A121 as an example of the cell address in the 'in
AP' worksheet
where the visual match is for E2.

2) Post examples of data that matches visually, and isn't found
using vlookup or
exact.

Let me know if this helps.

Peggy

 

[ruchie]

worked fine.. thanks a lot!