VLOOKUP has frustrated me with its rigid limitations and clunky syntax. But, not anymore. I found an Excel fucntion that ...

When you dive into the world of Excel, you quickly realize the power of its functions. Among these, the INDEX & MATCH formulas stand out as incredibly versatile tools for data lookup and retrieval.

In Excel, the INDEX function returns an item from a specific position (in a list, table, database). The MATCH function returns the position of a value (in a list, table, database).

This guide explores key Excel functions—FILTER, XLOOKUP, SUMIFS, INDEX-MATCH, and VLOOKUP—detailing their unique strengths, practical applications, and potential limitations.

Now that I've told Excel the row number for the INDEX function, I need to finish with the column number. In my case, the column number represents the month number I've typed into cell G3.

Set the fifth parameter [match_mode] to 1 and if there isn’t an exact match you will get the next largest result; -1 fetches the next smallest item.