Feature Request: Allow VLOOKUP to Reference Columns to the Left

Question

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Dear Microsoft Excel Team,

I am writing to provide feedback and suggest an improvement for the VLOOKUP function.

Currently, VLOOKUP requires the lookup column to be the first column of the table array, and it does not allow referencing columns to the left. This limitation can be inconvenient in real-world scenarios where the desired return value is located to the left of the lookup column.

For example, consider the following table:

A	B	C
1	X	10
1	X	10
2	Y	20
3	Z	30

If a user wants to look up the value "Y" in column B and return the corresponding value from column A (which is 2), VLOOKUP cannot achieve this because the lookup column must be the first column. Currently, the only workaround is to use a combination of INDEX and MATCH functions, which is less straightforward than a single VLOOKUP formula.

I would like to request an enhancement that allows VLOOKUP to reference columns to the left of the lookup column or to accept negative column index numbers. Such a feature would improve flexibility and usability, making it easier for users to work with various data layouts.

Thank you for considering this feature request. I appreciate your continuous efforts to improve Excel and your attention to user feedback.

Best regards, JungHyun Park

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Answer 1

Hello, I’m Virginia a fellow Windows user.

Thank you for your feedback but this is mainly a user-to-user forum so Microsoft may not see your feedback.

You can use the feedback app to request the feature to Microsoft- Windows key + F key.