Vlookup won't work for me... Aiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiieeeeeeeeeeeeeee

F

Father Guido

Hi,

I have two files of data with common names between them. I use vlookup
to extract data from one file and move it into another. I have never run
into the problem I'm having now.

My PC at home has XL2000 and my PC at work has XL2002. The names come
from the same web site, but no matter what I try I can't get the lookup
to work.

I've tried using trim on both files to get rid of extra stuff, I've
formatted both name columns as text, I've used the format painter to
paint the format the same as in the original lookup file, but nothing
works. Except...

If I copy the name from the original file over the name in the lookup
file it works. So something is amiss. Does anyone have a way to format
these columns so they can be matched against each other in a lookup.

Iuse a cell reference for the lookup name, so if in my original column I
have Frank Wells in A1, in A2 I'd use =vlookup(A1,Book4!A1:C500,3,false)
but even writing out the name doesn't work.

Thanks for your help.

Norm

Father Guido
¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯
I plan on living forever... so far, so good
 
A

Alan

A possibility, if you're getting data from the net it may contain the
dreaded CHAR(160) which looks like a space, but isn't so TRIM wont find it.
Try highlighting the data, Edit > Replace > Press the ALT key and type 0160
in the 'replace what' box (nothing shows when you type), leave 'replace
with' empty and hit replace all,
Regards,
Alan.
 
F

Father Guido

Thanks, I tried your suggestion, but it didn't help. <Sigh> So I just
copied the names out of one list to the other and it works great.

A possibility, if you're getting data from the net it may contain the
dreaded CHAR(160) which looks like a space, but isn't so TRIM wont find it.
Try highlighting the data, Edit > Replace > Press the ALT key and type 0160
in the 'replace what' box (nothing shows when you type), leave 'replace
with' empty and hit replace all,
Regards,
Alan.
Click to expand...


Father Guido
¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯
I plan on living forever... so far, so good
 
F

Father Guido

Thanks, I had previously formatted as general without luck. I finally
just copies names from one list to the other and everything works great.

It may be because you have formated as text. Try changing
to General.
Click to expand...


Father Guido
¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯
I plan on living forever... so far, so good
 
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