Hi Ruchie,

Try:

1) the following formula to compare two visually matching values:

=EXACT(E2,'in AP'!A121)

This is using A121 as an example of the cell address in the 'in
AP' worksheet
where the visual match is for E2.

2) Post examples of data that matches visually, and isn't found
using vlookup or
exact.

Let me know if this helps.

Peggy

"ruchie" wrote:

the formula im using is

=VLOOKUP($E2, 'in AP'!$A$2:$M$206, 5, FALSE)

'in AP' is the name of the worksheet im getting the table array from.
the field im searching on contains numbers and text both, but i
changed everything to text format as well.
the data is sorted too. any idea why it isnt working even when im sure
that the formula is right?