Situation
Not always we want to lookup values based on one search parameter. For eg. Imagine you have data like below and you want to find how much sales Joseph made in January 2007 in North region for product “Fast car”?
Data:

Solution
Simple, use your index finger to scan the list and find the match 😉
Of course, that wouldn’t be scalable. Plus, you may want to put your index finger to better use, like typing . So, lets come up with some formulas that do this for us.
You can extract items from a table that match multiple criteria in multiple ways. See the examples to understand the techniques:
| Using SUMIFS Formula [help] | |
| Formula | =SUMIFS(lstSales, lstSalesman,valSalesman, lstMonths,valMonth, lstRegion,valRegion, lstProduct,valProduct) |
| Result | 1592 |
| Using SUMPRODUCT Formula [help] | |
| Formula | =SUMPRODUCT(lstSales,(lstSalesman=valSalesman)*(lstMonths=valMonth)*(lstRegion=valRegion)* (lstProduct=valProduct)) |
| Result | 1592 |
| Using INDEX & Match Formulas (Array Formula) [help] | |
| Formula | {=INDEX(lstSales,MATCH(valSalesman&valMonth&valRegion&valProduct, lstSalesman&lstMonths&lstRegion&lstProduct,0))} |
| Result | 1592 |
| Using VLOOKUP Formula [help] | |
| Formula | =VLOOKUP(valMonth&valSalesman&valRegion&valProduct,tblData2,7,FALSE) |
| Result | 1592 |
| Conditions: | A helper column that concatenates month, salesman, region & product in the left most column of tblData2 |
| Using SUM (Array Formula) [help] | |
| Formula | {=SUM(lstSales*(lstSalesman=valSalesman)*(lstMonths=valMonth)* (lstRegion=valRegion)*(lstProduct=valProduct))} |
| Result | 1592 |
Sample File
Download Example File – Looking up Based on More than One Value
Go ahead and download the file. It also has some homework for you to practice these formula tricks.
Also checkout the examples Vinod has prepared.
Special Thanks to
Rohit1409, dan l, John, Godzilla, Vinod















7 Responses to “Build models & dashboards faster with Watch Window”
yes, I use watches in excel vb
Dear Chandoo,
This is a quite useful for myself. I highly appreciate your efforts for acquainting us with this value adding and time saving tip.
I'll admit it, I never saw this feature before. I was familiar with using Watch Window in VB, but not in workbook. I'll definitely use this in future when building dashboards!
it was always great reading your blog, one thing that i want to know, which tool you are using to create such gif image?
it was also a nice post,,,,,, sir
Hello Sir,
Really very nice post. I didn't use this features in past. But now going to use it..
Thanks a lot for every time come up with something new..
Thanks
Very Nice post sir.
Every Time posting something new.. Thanks a lot