Is it advisable to use the VLOOKUP function in Excel when similar results can be achieved using Ctrl+F or filter options?

Imagine you have a master Excel sheet with 500 employee names in Column A and their corresponding salaries in Column B.

Your boss shares a separate workbook containing 100 of those names and asks you to retrieve their salary details from the master list.

Using Ctrl F is a big no-no because it involves following steps for each employee:

1. Go to the cell containing first employee name sent by your boss.
2. Ctrl C to copy the cell.
3. Go to the data table of five hundred employees.
4. Ctrl F to open Find & Replace dialog box.
5. Ctrl V to paste the copied name.
6. Hit enter or press Ok.
7. Excel will take you to the desired cell.
8. Select the adjacent cell containing the salary amount.
9. Copy that amount using Ctrl C.
10. Go back to the data sent by your boss.
11. Paste the salary for the first employee.
12. Then repeat above 11 steps 99 more times to find and copy & paste the required salaries.

Now let's discuss about filtering option.

1. You apply filter on data set containing five hundred employees.
   
   
2. You uncheck all the filtered names.
   
   
3. You go back to boss's workbook.
   
   
4. You read the first name.
   
   
5. You come back to actual data workbook.
   
   
6. You select that name in the filter.
   
   
7. You again go back to your boss's workbook.
   
   
8. You read second employee name.
   
   
9. You come back to original data workbook.
   
   
10. You apply your second filter.
    
    
11. You need to follow steps 7-10 for ninety-eight more employees to filter all one hundred employees.
    
    
12. Now you have your one hundred names correctly filtered in actual data workbook.
    
    
13. You copy first salary from the filtered data.
    
    
14. You go back to boss's workbook.
    
    
15. You search the employee's name whose data has been copied.
    
    
16. You paste the first salary.
    
    
17. You go back to actual data workbook.
    
    
18. You copy next salary.
    
    
19. You go back to boss's workbook.
    
    
20. You search the employee's name again.
    
    
21. You paste the salary.
    
    
22. Then you repeat steps 17 to 21 for ninety-eight more employees.

If you're allowed to sort both workbooks, the task becomes much easier. But if your boss insists on keeping his data unsorted, things can get tricky.

Fortunately, VLOOKUP is a powerful time-saver. Simply apply the formula in the first cell of your boss’s workbook to retrieve the corresponding salary from the master list.

The beauty of VLOOKUP is that it works even if the lookup data isn’t sorted.

Once the formula is in place, drag it down to populate the remaining 99 salary entries in seconds.

Just like that—VLOOKUP turns a tedious task into a breeze.

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