Is there a way to process a vlookup to a text file or access database.

I have very large access files that if needed i can convert to text files.
I need to pull a couple of columns to an excel file based on one column
possibly via a vlookup. This excel file data is constantly changing and i
need to pull data from a database.

What would be the best way get the data when needed into the excel file?
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lmo