How to Use This Tool
Pick the task, fill in the cells, and copy a formula that already has the correct arguments — including the ones spreadsheets treat as optional but rarely should be.
The VLOOKUP trap this avoids
VLOOKUP takes an optional fourth argument. Leave it off and it defaults to approximate match, which assumes your lookup column is sorted ascending and returns the closest value at or below your target. On unsorted data that is simply the wrong row, returned with no error. It is one of the most common spreadsheet bugs precisely because nothing flags it — the number looks plausible.
The fix is the literal FALSE (or 0) as the fourth argument, forcing exact
match. This builder always writes it. If the value genuinely is not there you get #N/A,
which is the honest answer and far easier to spot than a wrong number that blends in.
Why XLOOKUP is offered instead
Where your spreadsheet supports it — Excel 365 and current Google Sheets — XLOOKUP is the
better tool, and the builder shows it alongside. It is exact-match by default, so the trap above cannot
happen. It can look to the left of the key, which VLOOKUP cannot. It takes a built-in
"if not found" argument, so you skip wrapping the whole thing in IFERROR. And it references
the return column directly, so inserting a column does not silently break it the way VLOOKUP's numeric
index does.
The comma-versus-semicolon problem
If you paste a formula from an English tutorial and Excel rejects it, the separator is usually why. In locales where the comma is the decimal mark — much of Europe — Excel uses a semicolon to separate arguments instead. The formula is otherwise identical. The separator toggle at the top writes whichever your copy of Excel expects. Google Sheets uses commas regardless of locale, so pick comma for Sheets.
What a builder cannot check
It writes correct syntax, not a correct answer. It cannot see your sheet, so it cannot know whether your ranges line up, whether a lookup column actually contains the key, or whether a date cell holds a real date or text that merely looks like one — a frequent cause of formulas that return nothing. Treat the output as a correctly-formed starting point, adjust the cell references to your layout, and if a result looks wrong, check the data types first.
