Everyone likes to be in control. Even my 2 year old daughter jumps with joy when she lays her hands on TV remote. She pushes the buttons and assumes it is working. It is another story that we rarely watch TV at home.
By adding an element of control, we can make our dashboard reports fun. Interactive elements like form controls, slicers etc. invite users to play with your dashboard, get involved and understand data by asking questions. That is why I recommend making dashboards interactive.
Today lets understand how you can make dashboards interactive.
There are 2 aspects to interactivity:
- What users see (controls, slicers etc.)
- How it works in background (formulas, pivots, tables etc.)
Section 1: Adding interactivity to your dashboards
There are many techniques to add interactivity to your dashboards. Lets look at each of them closely.
Using Data Validation to add drop-downs to a cell
This is the easiest way to get started. Using data validation feature in Excel, we can restrict only a set of values in a cell. When you do this, Excel shows a small drop down box (combo-box) inside the cell so that you can pick one of the possible values. Like this:
Demo of what you can do:
An example report show casing flu trends in US, various states & cities between 2003 – 2009. For more, click here.
Learn how to use data validation drop-downs:
- Adding data validation drop downs in Excel – Introduction & Examples
- Cascading Drop downs – load values in 2nd list depending first list
- Making data validation list dynamic
Example Dashboards with data validation drop downs
- Flu trends dashboard in Excel
- Visualizing Survey Results using Panel Charts
- Sales Analysis charts in Excel – lots of examples
- Personal Expense Trackers
- Sales Dashboards – lots of examples
- Excel Salary Survey – Dashboards – lots or examples
Using Form Controls to add interactivity
Almost all computer users are familiar with form controls. We see them every day – scroll bars, check boxes, option buttons, buttons – pretty much all programs in your computer are ripe with form controls. But do you know you can add the same controls to your Excel worksheet?
You can use these controls on worksheets to help select data. For example, drop-down boxes, list boxes, spinners, and scroll bars are useful for selecting items from a list. Option Buttons and Check Boxes allow selection of various options. Buttons allow execution of VBA code.
By adding a control to a worksheet and linking it to a cell, you can return a numeric value for the current position of the control. You can use that numeric value in conjunction with the Offset, Index or other worksheet functions to return values from lists.
Demo of what you can do:
[Watch the demo on our YouTube channel]
Learn how to use form controls
- Introduction to various form controls & Examples
- Using check boxes with charts – example & tutorial
- Using scroll bar control – simple mortgage payment calculator in Excel
Example dashboards using form controls
- KPI Dashboards using Excel
- Customer Service Dashboard in Excel
- Excel Salary Survey Dashboards – lots of examples
- Sales Dashboards in Excel – lots of examples
Using Slicers to add interactivity
Slicers, a new feature added in Excel 2010 can be used to add interactivity to your dashboards & reports. Slicers are like visual filters. So you can see all available options as small boxes and you can click which option you want.
Demo of Slicers in action:
Learn how to use Slicers
- Using slicers to make a dynamic dashboard in Excel
- Overview of slicers & other new features in Excel 2010
- Using slicers to select one of many scenarios in your models
Example Dashboards using Slicers
Using Click-able cells as interactive elements
With a few lines of VBA code, you can turn every cell in Excel in to a potential input option. When user clicks on a particular cell, you can treat that as interaction and modify your dashboard (or chart). This is a very powerful and intuitive way to use in dashboards. See below example.
Demo of what you can do:
Learn how to use click-able cells
Example dashboards using click-able cells type of interactivity
- Interactive sales chart in Excel
- Displaying product reviews on demand
- Grammy bump chart in Excel
- Customer service dashboard in Excel
- Excel Salary Survey Dashboards – lots of examples
Using Hyperlinks to add interactivity
Many of you know that you can type any text in a cell and press CTRL+K to convert it to a hyperlink to another part in your workbook. But Hyperlinks can trigger macros upon mouse hover. This is a powerful technique first mentioned by Jordan at OptionExplicitVBA.
By using this behavior, we can create an interactive report that gets updated upon mouse hover. See this demo:
Demo of what you can do:
Learn how to set up dynamic hyperlinks
- Interactive dashboards using Excel Hyperlinks – tutorial & explanation
- Video tutorial on Interactive hyperlinks
- Excel hyperlinks – basics, syntax & more
Example dashboards using interactive hyperlinks
- Excel Salary Survey Dashboards – lots of examples
- Periodic table of elements in Excel [Option Explicit VBA]
Using VBA / Macros to add interactivity
Of course, you can add active x or VBA events to add interactivity to your dashboards. This gives you lot of control on what you want and enables you to do more. That said, using VBA to provide interactivity requires that your audience must enable macros when they view your work.
There are many ways to add interactivity thru VBA. Some popular methods are,
- Adding buttons or assigning macros to drawing shapes, images
- Overlapping buttons or shapes on maps, floor plans etc. and driving events on click
- Using worksheet or active-x controls and adding events (like mouseover, click etc.)
Note: Both click-able cells & interactive hyperlinks also require VBA to be enabled. But the amount of code they require is quite less.
Demo of what you can do
Learn how to use VBA & Macros to add interactivity
- Introduction to VBA, Excel Macros
- Using VBA Macros to make a picture calendar
- Dynamic Pivot Chart using VBA Macros
Example Dashboards using VBA Macro based interactivity
- MLB Pitching Statistics Dashboard
- India’s world cup cricket victory in a dashboard
- Interactive Sales chart using Excel
- Sales analysis charts in Excel – multiple examples
- Excel Salary Survey dashboards – multiple examples
- Visualizing Roger Federer’s Wimbledon victory – Excel VBA Dashboard
Using Timelines to add interactivity [Excel 2013]
Starting Excel 2013, Microsoft is introducing a new feature called as Time lines. Timelines allow you to interactively select a range of dates. I have not yet written any articles on this feature. But here is a short demo on how they work:
Section 2: Behind interactivity – What you need to know in Excel
Now that you know various techniques for interactivity, lets understand various building blocks that help you get there.
Use tables to hold your data
One of the premises of interactivity is that your data can change. When this is the case, I suggest you to set up all your data in tables. Tables allow you to keep data that can grow (or shrink) and write formulas referring to whole range.
Learn how to use tables [Excel 2007 and above only]
Use INDEX formula
INDEX formula helps you extract a portion (single cell, range) from a list of values that you want to use for further calculations or charting. The syntax is simple.
INDEX(range of values, row, column)
Example: INDEX(A1:A10,5) returns A5
Note: Index returns a reference to A5, not the value itself. So you can use INDEX where ranges are expected. For ex. INDEX(A1:A10,5) : INDEX(A1:A10,9) same as A5:A9
Fore more on INDEX formula:
PS: You can also use OFFSET formula in this situations. Please keep in mind that OFFSET is volatile and hence can slow down your workbooks if you use it alot.
Use lookup formulas
Interactive dashboards require formulas that dynamically lookup a set of values among heaps and return them to charts, summaries etc. This is where lookup formulas come handy. Check out our LOOKUP page for comprehensive information on this.
Use SUMIFS, SUMPRODUCT
SUMIFS & SUMPRODUCT formulas will become your best friends when it comes to extracting summaries from mountains of data based on user interaction. Once you master these, you can analyze & visualize any amount of data with ease.
- Introduction to SUMIFS formula, examples & explanation
- Introduction to SUMPRODUCT formula, examples & explanation
- Formula Forensics 007 – Sumproduct
- Advanced SUMPRODUCT examples
- More on SUMPRODUCT, SUMIFS, COUNTIFS, SUMIF, Array formulas
Use Picture links
Picture links are live snapshots of ranges of cells. If you create a picture link from cells A1:D5, then although it looks like a picture, it is a live image of the cells A1:D5. So when the cells change, the picture gets updated too, thus creating interactive effect.
For more on picture links:
- Introduction to picture links – examples, information & uses
- Picture links in practice – example dashboards & charts
Use Pivot tables
Pivot tables can process large volumes of data and give you desired summaries with in split seconds. They are by nature not dynamic (if data or criteria changes, you need to refresh them). Starting Excel 2010, you can use Slicers to interactively update pivot tables (hence pivot charts) . Even in earlier versions, you can use simple macros to automatically refresh pivot tables whenever users modify a form control or do something else. This allows for powerful dashboard reporting all the while keeping your calculation engine light weight.
For more on pivot tables:
Use conditional formatting
Conditional formatting plays an important role in interactive dashboards by highlighted changed portions of worksheet. This further improves the interactive feel and guides users attention.
More on conditional formatting:
Do you make your dashboards interactive?
I love keeping my workbooks, models & dashboards interactive. Simple features like form controls, slicers can add a lot of wow factor to your workbooks.
What about you? Do you make interactive dashboards & charts? What are your favorite techniques? Please share using comments.
Now, if you excuse me, I will go and resolve a fight between my daughter and son. They both want remote control the TV even though it is switched off.
More on Dashboards: Check out Excel Dashboards page & resources for making dashboards page.
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!