Few days ago, we learned how to create a pie+donut combination chart to visualize polls around the world in 2014. It generated quite a bit of interesting discussion (47 comments so far). One of the comments was from Roberto, who along with Kris & Gábor runs The FrankensTeam an online library of advanced Excel tricks, charts and other mind-boggling spreadsheet wizardry.
I really liked Roberto’s comments on the original post and a charting solution he presented. So I asked him if he can do a guest post explaining the technique to our audience. He obliged and here we go.
Over to FrankensTeam.
Combine pie and xy scatter charts – guest post by The FrankensTeam
Fraü Blucher: I am Fraü Blucher. [horses whinny]
Igor: Steady.
Freddy: Uh, how do you do? I am Dr. Fronkensteen. This is my assistant. Inga, may I present Fraü Blucher. [horses whinny] I wonder what’s got into them.
First of all, we would like to say thank you to Chandoo for asking us to explain how to make this kind of chart.
Recently we have seen an interesting pie-based plot chart by Chandoo. Our proposed version combines 3 different chart types based on some background calculations. The final model is dynamic, you can add more data, and you have the choice to use 1D or 2D data table. All the calculations are prepared on the sheets up to 10 categories. In this guest post we would like to share our template file and show you some of our charting technique.
As an extra, at the end of the post you can find a link to our VBA code which could be used to rotate the chart labels.
Building blocks of the vote-chart
We combined 3 chart types:
- donut chart (two series)
- Outer grey slices
- Inner grey slices with month names
- pie chart (one series)
- Invisible data for placing country labels
- xy scatter chart (three series)
- Brown dots – Legislative
- Blue dots – President
- Orange dots – Referendum
Doughnut series
The two series: month_label and month serve to create the gray ring for the months.
The labels in a doughnut chart are always positioned at the center. By using two series (so two rings) and eliminating the border lines, the two rings seem to be one, but the labels can be positioned at the bottom by adding it to the innermost ring. The reason why we use two rings instead of moving the labels manually is very simple: this way the labels will always stay at the same position, even if you resize the chart. Also it is easier than manually adjust the label boxes.
The month names are linked to the labels from cells (you can see it on the formula bar if you click on one label) because only one axis label could be assigned to the chart, and we use it for the country names (those are more… :-))
XY scatter series
Scatter series are used to arrange the colored dots on the outer ring. This is a main difference from Chandoo’s version. We use 3 series to separate the three different vote categories: presidential, legislative and referendum, and to position the dots of the same country in radial direction as you can see on the original chart. The 3 series form 3 big circles with different radius: legislative is the outermost, referendum is the innermost, but we move the points from the inner circles to the outer, if there is no “higher” vote-type.
Naturally it is possible to adjust the size and shape of the indicators.
We will show you later how to calculate the scatter point positions. (Maybe at first sight it seems to be difficult but you will see it is easy to arrange them properly.)
Our file is prepared to handle more vote-types (or other categories). You will only need to add the new series to the chart!
Pie series
Pie chart is used to position and show labels with the names of the states. The chart itself is hidden (we set to no color and no line) so only the labels are visible.
The number of slices of the pie is determined by the maximum number of countries per month – it needs to be multiplied by 12. All the slices are sized equally and all has a label, but only the ones that we need will have the name of the state, for the rest, the label is an empty string “”.
Formulas behind the chart
For better understanding we separated the data and the support formulas to two sheets. We prepared the file to be able to work with two different types of data table.
You may have the type of vote in one column (1D):
Using some formulas, this table could easily be re-ordered to a pivot-table-like 2D format. This is what you can see in our file on sheet Transpose_data:
This table is the starting point to build up the help data for the charts.
You can find all the calculations on Support sheet. A key element of calculations is the total number of slices for the pie chart. We need to determine the maximum number of countries per month – this will be the number of slices for each month. We use a named formula: max_size_month for this data (here we adapted Chandoo’s MODE-based formula).
The total number of slices will be 12*max_size_month.
The second step is to determine the slice number for each country, and based on that, calculate the the slice angle in radians. If you think about trigonometry, you will remember that sine and cosine together with radius determines the x and y coordinates of the circle points.
We created a calculation table with the necessary formulas. This table is dynamic and prepared to process more data rows and more vote (or other) categories.
The dots are positioned on 3 circles. We use a fixed parameter in a name: circle_distance to set the radiuses of the circles.
We use a support range for both text labels: country names and month. For month names we avoid to use TEXT function with string parameter “mmm” because in non-english systems it will not work! Instead we use Custom cell formatting with code “mmm” – this kind of formatting is translated automatically to locals.
For country names we set the country to the same pie-slice where the dots are, all the rest will have an empty string as label. The column with country name formula will be assigned to the category axis of the chart, but the month names will be linked to the doughnut-series labels one by one, because it is not possible to set two different axis labels. 🙁
How to put it together?
- Select the Legislative x and Legislative y columns, and create a scatter chart.
- Add two more series using the President x and y and Referendum x and y columns.
- Set the axis minimum to -1 maximum to +1 for both of the axes.
- Delete the axes and the grid lines. You can see something like this:
The dots do not form a circle yet, but after you add the pie chart, the shape of the plot area will be a perfect square, so the circle will appear. - Add a new series named for_label using arr_pie both for x and y values:
- Set the chart type of this series to pie and set no fill, no border. Now the dots form perfect circle.
- Link the category axis for this data series to the support column with Label States. (In the Select Data dialogue box click on the “for_label” series, then the Edit button. Select the range from the sheet.)
- Add labels to the pie slices. Set it to show Category name and position Outside end.
- Add two more series (month and month_label) using arr_12 for the values.
- Set the chart type of these two series to doughnut, and set no borders. Color every second slice to darker gray.
- Add data labels for the inner circle, and link the labels one by one to the sheet cells with month names. (Select one label, click on the formula bar, type = and click on the appropriate cell you want to link the label to.)
- Finally you have to hide the 0 data points which appear in the middle of the chart. Add a new xy data series (named “white series”) with fixed values ={0} for x and y. Set a marker of series to the same color as the background of your chart, and use a marker large enough to cover the unnecessary point. 🙂
+1. You can add new xy series if you need – the calculations are already done on the sheets. It is not problem to use over-sized ranges, the error values will become 0 and will appear in the center of the circle – covered by the white series. BUT important for the proper covering, the white series must be the very-last series, so after adding new series, check the order, and move the white series to the bottom of the list.
Bonus: rotate the chart labels using VBA
As you can see on the above picture all the labels are horizontal. To rotate it to radial direction a piece of VBA code is needed. We created this code and published on our site – please feel free to use it for this chart or your other charts (see the link below).
Download the example files
Click here to download the files. Examine the formulas, chart settings and formatting to learn more. This is a highly advanced chart, so take some time to go thru it. You will learn a lot.
Learning points and links:
- Be careful using TEXT formula with string parameter in international environment! You can read about it here.
- Combining xy scatter with pie chart makes the plot area shape perfect square, so it is easy to create a perfect square area for drawing by the xy coordinates. You can read about it here.
- Rotate chart labels to radial or tangential direction is possible with this VBA code.
Added by Chandoo:
Thank you Frankens Team
Thank you so much Robert, Kris and Gábor for taking time to write this. It is a pleasure hosting your article here. I have been following your website for several months and every time I visit it, I end up learning something interesting, creative and just plain awesome. Thanks for sharing your knowledge, ideas and technique with all of us.
Like this chart? Say thanks to Frankens Team
If you enjoyed this chart, please say thanks to Frankens Team. Also visit their site to see how far you can with Excel.
54 Responses to “6 Tips for Writing Better VLOOKUPs”
Hi, I am loving the VLOOKUP series this week. 🙂
Could you please expand a little on why you don't recommend using 1 or 0 in place of true or false? I am in the habit of doing this.
"You can even omit the last argument if it is 0"
Excel's default for the last argument is TRUE. Because of this, it's dangerous to omit the last arguement. I would use either FALSE or 0. Never omit if you want an exact match.
Nice series, Chandoo!
.
Your readers may be interested to know that the quickest formula method to do lookups in Excel is an array-entered INDEX.
.
This is one of the many topics covered in the Excel Hero Academy:
Excel Hero Academy
.
Regards,
Daniel Ferry
Excel Hero Academy
Dear Daniel,
I had used index-match with absolute reference for the ranges but when I am resorting the table the formula is not recalulating the lookup value combination.
Regards,
Anish Menacherry
@Anish
Can you post the question at the Chandoo.org Forums
http://chandoo.org/forum/
Please include a sample file so we can review the issue
1. Never use VLOOKUP/HLOOKUP - Always use Match /Index
2. Sort your data before performing a Loookup
3. Use 1/-1 option Match as it is at least 10 times faster than the 0 option- But modified to perform an exact match rather than an approximate match as described below
a) A Column containing a Match Fucntion to Find the Position with the 1/-1 option
b) A Status column containing a Index to check the status (present/not present)
c) Multiple array entered Index colums to pick
In tip number 5 you state, "you can even omit the last argument if it is 0" which is not correct. If you omit the last argument, Range_Lookup, is TRUE, as Mike Alexander points out.
Excellent series - Need some help from the expert. how easy it is to add/expand a named range in a lookup formula?
@Mike & Gregory: I am sorry for the confusion. The formula =VLOOKUP(value, range, column #) assumes last argument as TRUE.
Where as the formula =VLOOKUP(value, range, column #, ) assumes last argument is blank or empty which internally gets treated as 0.
And that is what I mean by you can even omit last argument. I state that "Remember, you must place a comma (,) after the column number if you are planning to use this." otherwise, this will not work.
@Andrew: I suggest not using 0 or 1 as they are more cryptic and lead to confusion when your spreadsheet gets to someone else's hands.
@Daniel: Thanks for that.
@Sam: Good tips. I would just add that using VLOOKUP / HLOOKUP is ok as long as they solve the problem you have and do not take too much time. The performance improvements you get with array entered index or other techniques are minimal when dealing with small and moderately sized data sets.
@Sundeep
Very easy
Have a read of: http://chandoo.org/wp/2009/10/15/dynamic-chart-data-series/
Particularly Point 3. Create a new named range and type OFFSET formula
@Hui - Thanks.
If I have a large workbook with many Vlookups and if I change the range to named range...is there an easy way to change all the formulas? It is more of wishful thinking than a question 🙂
@Sundeep... You can use Apply names from formulas ribbon to apply names to a selected range. This technique works when the ranges are mapped to static references. Dynamic refs. thru OFFSET are bit more tricky.
You can use the find / replace to automatically replace all $A$1:$C$1000 with dynamic range lstData. See this: http://chandoo.org/wp/2009/02/17/spreadsheet-formulas-edit/
@Sundeep
On the Formulas Tab, Click on the Drop Down on the Define Name button and select Apply Names
Select one or all Named Ranges and apply
Excel will go through your worksheet/s and change the Ranges for Named Ranges.
i cannot believe i missed the new to 2007 formula "IFERROR". your mention of this will help reduce the number of characters in many formulars i use (with "ISERROR") by at least 40% along with commensurate reductions in spreadsheet size and calculation speed... not to mention future reduction in typing and debugging time in formulas. thank you. and thank excel.
Newbie here.
I am not able to understand the Tip#1. Use of "val", "tbl". I tried and it kept on giving error.
Chandoo's Tip#1: =VLOOKUP(valSalesPerson,tblData,3,FALSE)
Does it need column headings? And how do you l lookup the value I am looking.
Thanks in advance.
[...] 6 VLOOKUP Tips [...]
[...] VLOOKUP, INDEX, and MATCH: Useful for looking up any text values [...]
I need some help with creating a formula. I have a list of names on tab 1. (About 20) On tab 2 I have a list of names and there total sales (About 3,500) I created a name range for both the first list of names on tab 1 (Producer) and a name range for the second list on tab 2 (Agent_List) The sales on tab 2 for each producer is in the 7th colume.
I need the formula to identify name of Producer (Tab1) from the Agent_List and then choose the total sales for that producer.
This is the formula I put together and I only get #REF!
VLOOKUP(PRODUCER,AGENT_LIST,7,FALSE)
@JimH
I assume you are adding a column next to the Agent_List on Tab 2 and looking up values from the Agent_List and retrieving values from the Producer list
.
So the format for your equation will be:
=VLOOKUP(A2,Producer,7,FALSE)
or
=VLOOKUP(Agent_List,Producer,7,FALSE)
.
Note that the named range Producer must be at least 7 columns wide, not just Column A or you will get the #REF! error also
Hi
Can anyone please help or this totally impossible in excel? I am trying to do a vlookup with a range of cells that contains "comments" in them and unsuccessful.
Thank you
@Lala
You cannot search within comments unless you use VBA
My tips are:
Pay attention to data types - no fly if mixing text and numbers. I run into this problem a lot with files downloaded from access that have a tendency to mix data types on me when it hits excel.
Pay attention to $ - If pulling from the same workbook, $ won't auto fill on your range and you will potentially miss hits.
Yeah, the data type mixing has bitten several folks I work with in the rear.
EG: I work at a company where marketing source codes are 10-alphanumeric. But, some codes are like "12345" while others are "123abc". When access or sql dumps to excel, the numerical ones convert to numbers while the text ones stay text.
So, what I do is create a reference column next to them in which I do a =TRIM([column]). Trim not only removes front/back spaces, it converts a value to text data type. This is useful, b/c sometimes sql db admins will store data with a fixed string length (eg: a column may get stored as char(50), which means it will have 50 chars no matter if it has to add extra spaces at the end to pad it out.) When you dump this to excel, the extra spaces remain at the end. So, the Trim command not only converts numbers to text, it removes padded spaces at the end. Very useful when working with sql dumps.
I have two sheets, in first sheet i have given a criteria of month (like jan, feb), then on another sheet i have month wise sheet like
jan feb mar
a 2 5 8
b 5 9 8
c 9 12 89
now i need in first sheet if i give criteria jan then answer is 2+5+9, or if i give feb then answer is 5+9+12 and like that, how to get that??
I am pretty well versed in VLOOKUP but I have a challenge I can't figure out. When I complete the VLOOKUP in one cell, it works fine. When I drag the formula down (using $ where necessary) the value from the first LOOKUP populates in the new cell. If I double click on the cell and hit 'enter' then the correct value is pulled in from the vlookup. Any suggestions why the formula isn't executing correctly until I hit enter?
@Nicole
It sounds like Calculation is set to Manual
Goto the Data Tab Calculation and set it to Automatic
Absolutely FANTASTIC!! Thank you so much. Slight variation on my version of Excel. I had to go to Formulas Tab then to Calculation sub-tab, Calculation Options, change setting to Automatic. Thank you thank you thank you. Saved me hours of more frustration!
[...] than maybe sorted, which it usually is anyway).Use COUNTIF or MATCH to speed up calculationAs many others have pointed out, VLOOKUP returns #N/A if the lookup value is not found. Instead of using a [...]
I have more than 2 columns in a table I'm so confused cuz the results i get is #N/A =(
I have a 2-sheet database. Sheet 2 has a list of Accronyms in column A and their description in column B. On sheet 1, column A is where you input your Acronym. In column B, the formula takes Acronym from column A, looks it up on sheet 2, and displays it on column B.
After some research, I found how to make custom text if there is not a match on the Acromyn. The question i have is, is that when there is no text in comumn A, sheet 1, column B, sheet 1 displays my custom text "ABBREVIATION NOT FOUND". I'm trying to write a forumla that leaves column B blank unitl there is an input in column A.
This is my current forulma:
=IF(ISNA(VLOOKUP(A4,Description!A:B,2,FALSE)),"ABBREVIATION NOT FOUND",(VLOOKUP(A4,Description!A:B,2,FALSE)))
Any help out there?
Thanks,
Jerome
Hi Jerome... Thanks for your question. Try this formula instead:
=IF(A4<>"", IFERROR(VLOOKUP(A4,Description!A:B,2,FALSE),”ABBREVIATION NOT FOUND”), "")
Works in XL 2007 or above. For older versions use this:
=IF(A4<>"", IF(ISNA(VLOOKUP(A4,Description!A:B,2,FALSE)),”ABBREVIATION NOT FOUND”,(VLOOKUP(A4,Description!A:B,2,FALSE))), "")
Btw, to learn more about IFERROR see this: http://chandoo.org/wp/2011/03/11/iferror-formula/
I have 2 worksheet, the first one is like this:
A B C D
1 DOG 1 BROWN
1 DOG 2 WHITE
2 CAT 1 SMALL
2 CAT 2 MEDIUM
2 CAT 3 BIG
THE SECOND WORKSHEET IS LIKE THIS:
A B C D
ENTER# fORMULA 1 WITH VLOOK ENTER # FORMULA 2
(RETURN ANIMAL) RETURN TYPE
FOR EXAMPLE i NEED WORKS LIKE THIS:
2 CAT 2 MEDIUM
FIRST FORMULA IS EASY NOT PROBLEM. bUT FOR THE SECOND i DO NOT FIND HOW TO DO IT. PLEASE HELP.
This would be how I would handle your second formula, in your first worksheet, I would insert a column between C & D. In that column I would have a formula to concatenate the values in column A & C (example =concatenate(a2,c2)) which would result in:
A B C D E
1 DOG 1 11 BROWN
1 DOG 2 12 WHITE
2 CAT 1 21 SMALL
2 CAT 2 22 MEDIUM
2 CAT 3 23 BIG
Then in the second worksheet formula 2 would be:
=vlookup(concatenate($a2,$c2),AnimalType columns D&E,2,false)
Great Stuff Chandoo
In your 6th post you say use SUMIF instead of VLOOKUP as it runs faster.
What if you have a spread sheet with repeated data and you only want to pull one value back?
would it be best to use a simple VLOOKUP
or something like: IF(COUNTIF < 2, SUMIF, VLOOKUP)
I have set COUNTIF < 2 (not just = 1) to take advantage of the fact that if COUNTIF = 0 you won’t get an error
Now if only you could use the column header name instead of the column index number in the VLOOKUP function.
Scenario: I have a list/table in one spreadsheet that I use to lookup values in other spreadsheets. If I insert columns in my list/table, I have to go into the other spreadsheet(s) and increment the VLOOKUP formulas' column index number to capture the right column of values.
Example: if I inserted a column in Table1, my formula:
=VLOOKUP(A1,Table1,2,FALSE) would have to change to:
=VLOOKUP(A1,Table1,3,FALSE),
it would be so much better if you could code something like:
=VLOOKUP(A1,Table1,Table1[price],FALSE)
If my lookup result is numeric data I could use sumif as suggested and use the list/table references; is there a similar function I can use for alphanumeric data lookups that uses list/table references?
[…] Read more – 6 VLOOKUP tips […]
tip:
you can use dynamic column reference for your look up if you want to pull multiple column values from another sheet with the same row reference without having to rewrite the the formula, e.g.
range a1:d1 = "header", 2 , 3, 4
b2 = vlookup($a2, LookUpRange, b$2, 0)
c2 = vlookup($a2, LookUpRange, c$2, 0)
b3 = vlookup($a3, LookUpRange, b$2, 0)
the above will bring back the value two columns away from LookUpRange in b2, 3 for c2 and 4 for d2 for the same reference, a2. By freezing just the column for your lookup reference value and just the rows for your column reference, you can drag your forums both down and right while keeping all reference both constant and dynamic... as oxymoronic as that sounds.
my TIP, building on what Andy says above re using a dynamic refrence: if you use the column functon in the header row - should someone add extra columns to the source sheet your lookup will adapt and still return the right result.
With the below formula I am getting "too many arguments for this function. any help?
=IFERROR(VLOOKUP(RIGHT(M3,7),notes!A:A,1,FALSE),"Failure to process correctly",IFERROR(VLOOKUP(RIGHT(n,2),notes!A:A,1,FALSE),"Failure to process correctly"))
Chaz - IFERROR only requires 2 arguments, you have entered 3 (the vlookup, the error message, the 2nd IFERROR).
Change your formula to the following:
=IF(isERROR(VLOOKUP(RIGHT(M3,7),notes!A:A,1,FALSE)),”Failure to process correctly”,IFERROR(VLOOKUP(RIGHT(n,2),notes!A:A,1,FALSE),”Failure to process correctly”))
Ian
Hmm, I'm not sure my formula will return the required output.
This tests if there is an error in the 1st vlookup, then checks the 2nd, and only returns the error message if both vlookups are errors. Is that what you wanted to do?
=IF(isERROR(VLOOKUP(RIGHT(M3,7),notes!A:A,1,FALSE)),IFERROR(VLOOKUP(RIGHT(n,2),notes!A:A,1,FALSE),”Failure to process correctly”),VLOOKUP(RIGHT(M3,7),notes!A:A,1,FALSE))
I am trying to use a vlookup with a named range for the lookup array. This works fine. However now I would like to replace this named range with a cell reference (which obviously contains the name of the named range) but get a N/A error message. Is this really not possible?
vlookup ( A1, named range, 2, 0 ) . This works
vlookup ( A1, F1, 2, 0 ) . Where cell F1 contains the the text with named range. This does not work.
Any tips or thoughts would be appreciated. Thank you in advance
@Erik
Use: vlookup ( A1, Indirect(F1), 2, 0 )
Works like a charm. Thank you!
Some opinions on the pros and cons of using named ranges on http://www.excelvlookuphelp.com along with a few other hot tips
Hello,
Chandoo,
Can u explain me how to use vlookup formula in 2 sheets in one excel workbook.
Hi am Using Index match function to overcome the limitation of Vlookup. But I am failed to get the same result as i get in Vlookup. in vlookup as we can expand the Columns of Vlookup in one single shot. Like Vlookup($A4,A1:G9,3,0) but same Result i Not get in Index match Function. Please help
@Satish
I will suggest that your list is unsorted and it is possible that VLookup is returning a wrong answer
Can you post a question at the Chandoo.org Forums
http://chandoo.org/forum/
Post a sample file and someone will review
I want to upload a Sample file Contain my Question. but i can't see and upload file button on the page. Please Tell how to upload the File
@Satish
You can't upload a file here
But you can on the Forums
Goto:
http://chandoo.org/forum/
Select a Forum
Start a New Thread
Upload a File, is at the Bottom next to the Post Button
Refer: http://chandoo.org/forum/threads/posting-a-sample-workbook.451/#post-73705
thanxx... Soon i will Upload It.
Dear Excel super-users,
Sourcing data from different sheets.
I'd like to specify in the vlookup formula which sheet to source data from.
This source sheet will change depending of the name of the person selected in a specific cell C1 on the sheet where the vlookup formula is being run from.
I'd be grateful for any tips to achieve this.
Regards,
Sean
dear sir /madam
please proved me lookup formula
and exp--------- insert picture formula attched excel sheet
Us the Column formula in place of the 3rd argument will save you time when you want to bring in all data columns!