The cell with the formula might be formatted as Text. Use Format |
Cells | Number tab to set it to General, then press F2 followed by
<Enter to commit the change in format.

Hope this helps.

Pete

On Nov 7, 12:07*am, DKinPgh wrote:
I set up a workbook with 2 pages, both over 12k rows. the second page has the
data I need to do the lookup. I named the area ($a$:$d$12973) to reference in
the lookup command. all data is set as text and is sorted.

the function =vlookup($a2,crossing,3,false)

the problem is that when I enter the cells into the function argument drop
down box, it shows the value I want, but, when I hit return, the function
statement is showing, not the value.

Any thoughts would be appreciated.