How to Pull Data From Another Sheet With XLOOKUP
Intermediate
How-To · Excel
Look up a value in one table and pull back matching information from another — the modern replacement for VLOOKUP.
- Identify your lookup value (what you're searching for, like an ID or name) and which sheet/table contains the data you want to pull back.
- In the cell where you want the result, type =XLOOKUP( and select your lookup value first.
- For the second argument, select the full column in the other sheet that contains values matching your lookup value.
- For the third argument, select the column in that same sheet containing the data you actually want returned.
- Add a fourth argument like "Not found" in quotes to show a clean message instead of #N/A when there's no match.
- If you're on an older Excel version without XLOOKUP, use =VLOOKUP(lookup_value, table_array, column_index_number, FALSE) instead — the FALSE at the end requires an exact match.
Running into an error instead of just needing the how-to? Check our Excel troubleshooting guides or the error lookup.
Frequently Asked Questions
Should I switch all my existing VLOOKUP formulas to XLOOKUP?
Not urgently — VLOOKUP still works fine and isn't being removed. XLOOKUP is worth using for new formulas going forward since it's more flexible, but there's no need to rebuild everything that already works.
Does XLOOKUP work in older versions of Excel?
No — XLOOKUP requires Microsoft 365 or Excel 2021 and later. If you're on an older standalone version, VLOOKUP remains your option.
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