VLOOKUP is very picky about the values matching exactly. For example, if the
values are strings and one of them has leading or trailing spaces you won't
get a match. Also, if the values are numbers but one of them is formatted as
text and the other as a number you won't get a match. For this second
scenario you can place the number 1 in an unused cell (that is formatted as a
number or general) and then copy/paste special/multiply to the values that
you want to change to numbers. This will convert them.

Hope this helps.
Will

"Patricia Lynch" wrote:

when using vlookup on a list - I often find that I get N/A as an answer
unless I retype the item I am looking up. When I retype the value that I am
looking up, the correct corresponding value is then pulled from the list....
is there a workaround for this other than to retype every value you have to
look up?
thanks