VLOOKUP function in Google Sheets - Cell-by-Cell Formula Trace

Sample Data

This table lists products with their IDs, names, and prices. We want to find the product name for the ID in E2 using VLOOKUP.

Cell	Value
A1	Product ID
B1	Product Name
C1	Price
A2	101
B2	Apple
C2	0.5
A3	102
B3	Banana
C3	0.3
A4	103
B4	Cherry
C4	0.2
E1	Lookup ID
E2	102
F1	Product Name
F2

Formula Trace

=VLOOKUP(E2, A2:C4, 2, FALSE)

Step 1: E2

Step 2: A2:C4

Step 3: Search first column of A2:C4 for 102

Step 4: Return value from column 2 of row found

Step 5: Final result

Cell Reference Map

    A       B         C       D       E       F
1 |Product ID|Product Name|Price |       |Lookup ID|Product Name
2 |   101   |   Apple   | 0.5   |       |   102   |       
3 |   102   |   Banana  | 0.3   |       |         |       
4 |   103   |   Cherry  | 0.2   |       |         |       

Arrows:
E2 --> VLOOKUP lookup_value
A2:C4 --> VLOOKUP table_array
VLOOKUP returns value from column 2 (B column) in the matched row

The formula uses E2 as the lookup value and searches the range A2:C4. It returns the value from the 2nd column (Product Name) where the first column matches the lookup value.

Result

    E       F
1 |Lookup ID|Product Name
2 |   102   |  Banana   

The formula in F2 shows 'Banana', which is the product name for the product ID 102 found in E2.

Sheet Trace Quiz - 3 Questions

What value does the formula look for in the table?

A Apple

B 102

C Banana

D 0.3

Key Result

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