Merging queries (joins) in Excel - Cell-by-Cell Formula Trace

Sample Data

Two tables: Left table with IDs and Names (A1:B4), Right table with IDs and Scores (D1:E4). We want to merge them by ID.

Cell	Value
A1	ID
B1	Name
A2	1
B2	Alice
A3	2
B3	Bob
A4	3
B4	Charlie
D1	ID
E1	Score
D2	2
E2	85
D3	3
E3	90
D4	4
E4	75

Formula Trace

=IFERROR(VLOOKUP(A2, $D$2:$E$4, 2, FALSE), "No Score")

Step 1: VLOOKUP(1, $D$2:$E$4, 2, FALSE)

Step 2: IFERROR(#N/A, "No Score")

Cell Reference Map

    A       B       C       D       E
1 | ID    | Name  |       | ID    | Score
2 | 1     | Alice |       | 2     | 85
3 | 2     | Bob   |       | 3     | 90
4 | 3     | Charlie|      | 4     | 75

Arrows: A2 -> VLOOKUP lookup value
Range $D$2:$E$4 -> VLOOKUP table array
Column 2 -> VLOOKUP returns Score

Formula in cell C2 uses A2 as lookup value and searches in D2:E4 for matching ID to get Score.

Result

    A       B       C
1 | ID    | Name  | Score
2 | 1     | Alice | No Score
3 | 2     | Bob   | 85
4 | 3     | Charlie| 90

Column C shows Scores matched by ID from right table. If no match, shows 'No Score'.

Sheet Trace Quiz - 3 Questions

What does the formula return for ID 1?

A No Score

B 85

C 90

D 75

Key Result

VLOOKUP looks for a value in the first column of a range and returns a value from a specified column in the same row.