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Why are VLOOKUPs* bad❓

Why are VLOOKUPs* bad❓

We could think of at least 8 reasons 👎. Can you think of more?

1.VLOOKUPs are slow: As the size of your data grows, VLOOKUPs can become increasingly slow, making your spreadsheet unresponsive and taking a long time to process.

2. Limited flexibility: VLOOKUPs can only look up values in the first column of a table, limiting your ability to find data from other columns.

3. Error-prone: VLOOKUPs can be prone to errors if the table or range is not set up correctly. This can lead to incorrect data being returned or the formula breaking.

4. Can’t handle multiple matches: VLOOKUPs only return the first match they find, which can be a problem if there are multiple matches in the data.

5. Can’t handle missing data: VLOOKUPs can return errors if the data they are looking up is not present in the table, making it difficult to handle missing data.

6. Can’t handle duplicate data: VLOOKUPs can return incorrect results if there are duplicate values in the data they are looking up.

7. Can’t handle large data sets: VLOOKUPs can’t handle large data sets, which can cause errors or slow performance.

8. Can’t handle data changes: VLOOKUPs can break if the data they are looking up changes, requiring you to update the formula every time the data changes.

*VLOOKUP is a broadly used function in Excel that allows you to search for a specific value in one table and return a corresponding value from a different column in the same row.