The Big Idea
Discover how to instantly connect separate lists and save hours of tedious work!
0
0
Why Merging queries (joins) in Excel? - Purpose & Use Cases
The Scenario
Imagine you have two lists in Excel: one with customer names and another with their orders. You want to see which customer made which order, but the lists are separate.
Doing this by hand means looking up each customer in the orders list and writing down their orders next to their name.
The Problem
Manually matching customers to orders is slow and tiring. It's easy to make mistakes, like missing a customer or mixing up orders.
When the lists grow bigger, this task becomes overwhelming and error-prone.
The Solution
Merging queries (joins) in Excel lets you combine these lists automatically. You tell Excel to match customers with their orders, and it does the work for you.
This saves time and avoids mistakes, giving you a clear combined list instantly.
Before vs After
✗ Before
Look up each customer name in orders list and copy orders manually
✓ After
=XLOOKUP(A2, Orders!A:A, Orders!B:B, "Not found")What It Enables
It lets you quickly combine related data from different tables to get a full picture without manual work.
Real Life Example
A sales manager merges customer info with sales data to see who bought what, helping them understand sales trends easily.
Key Takeaways
Manual matching is slow and error-prone.
Merging queries automates combining related data.
This saves time and improves accuracy in your spreadsheets.