Kassie wrote...
Vlookup works with a unique list. You should only have 1 instance of a
unique name in that list, and if I am not mistaken, it should also be sorted,
for VLookup to work properly. . . .

Maybe in Lotus 123, but not in Excel. The 4th argument to VLOOKUP
allows for optional exact matching in unsorted first columns, and
there's never been a requirement in either 123 or Excel that each value
in the first column of the table be distinct. You're thinking of DGET.

. . . If you use FALSE in your formula, it will then
find an exact match. If you use TRU, it will find the closest match. Why
not remove the duplicates? . . .

Because not all tables are sensibly designed, and duplicate entries in
the first column don't imply duplicate entries in the other columns. An
example would be names in column 1, transaction dates in column 2,
transaction amounts in column 3. The same person (same name in column
1) could have multiple distinct transactions. There's no duplicate
*RECORDS*, only duplicate names.