Try this.........

=IF(ISNA(VLOOKUP(A2,TranIndex!A:B,2,False)),"Not
found",VLOOKUP(A2,TranIndex!A:B,2,False))

.....all on one line, watch out for word-wrap.

Vaya con Dios,
Chuck, CABGx3



"Doc Farmer" wrote in message
oups.com...
I'm doing a search of a table with a unique transaction code (column
A) and its corresponding description (column B). The table doesn't
have all of the transaction codes in place yet, when compared to the
actual transactions in use (which I'm trying to populate with the
description). When the transaction code matches, the description
comes over. When the transaction code cannot be found, the
description from the previous line is populated.

=VLOOKUP(A2,TranIndex!A:B,2)

Also, is there any reason the Description column MUST be in "General"
format instead of "Text"? When it's "Text" format, I get no results
(no idea why).

As you can tell, I'm not an Excel afficionado. I'm just hoping
somebody out there can provide an old mainframe like me some guidance.

Many thanks.