hope this helps, not that good at vlookup, maybe, either.
this is some work I had done in the past, but apply as needed.
recommend looking up in help..

following contains notes done in the past, sym is my sheet/file name reference
to compare sheets.

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leave space in front of '='/ do not commit; FIND-REPLACE items ABC: 0.
file (with your backup file name), & sheet (sheet name data is on), place
file in same dir, (can modify start/ stop range from 100-4000)
1. $A ref col in this sheet (eg: $AQ), 2. $B with ref col other sheet
(open) 3. $C with lost data col other sheet 4. $AQ1 with row you place
this in/ col ref'd (eg: $AQ1 to $AQ100), 5. commit formula, copy/ paste
down
6. after copy-paste-special: values, may want to replace all 0's in
destination column (i.e.: find-replace: 0, match entire cell contents).

=IF(OR($A1={"","."},ISNA(VLOOKUP($A1,[sym.xls]sym!$B$100:$C$4000,(COLUMN($C$100)-COLUMN($B$100))+1,FALSE))),"",VLOOKUP($A1,[sym.xls]sym!$B$100:$C$4000,(COLUMN($C$100)-COLUMN($B$100))+1,FALSE))


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"chrishka" wrote:

I am trying to do a simple VLOOKUP formula which i have done hundreds of
times before ,but when i do the formula the only reslut in that cell is the
vlookup formula itself. it is as if I have written text into that cell and
not a formula even though it start with an =. i have tried changing the
format of the cell , but nothing seems to work

please help