It's possible that there are blanks at the end of one (or both) data. Try
using TRIM function so see if it solves the problem.

e.g. =MATCH(TRIM(A1),B1:C1,0)


"Shazam" wrote:

I am matching two columns on two tabs with results being posted on the first
tab, third column. For some reason, the match does not always work and I
believe it must be the way either it was input or the way it is formatted.
For example, two data items appear to match but do not return a result and
they look exactly the same. If I perform a "find" it finds both cells, but
yet returns nothing. If I then copy the cell from tab one to tab two (they
both look like the same data) and paste, then it retuns with the result. I
have tried reformatting both columns and performed text to columns with no
change. Any suggestions?

Thank You,

Shazam