LOOKUP
Supported, behaves as documentedCategory: Lookup and reference · Last tested 2026-09-01
Real compatibility results for the LOOKUP function: executed in Excel for the web, Google Sheets and LibreOffice Calc, with desktop Excel behavior from Microsoft’s official documentation (we do not run desktop Excel — Excel for the web is a different application and is executed separately). Syntax and links to that documentation are below.
Support matrix
| Engine | Documented | Live-tested | Verdict |
|---|---|---|---|
| Excel (desktop) | Yes | No — documented only | n/a |
| Excel for the web | — | Yes (recalc, 2026-09-01) | Supported, behaves as documented |
| Google Sheets | Yes | Yes (Drive import, 2026-08-29) | Supported, behaves as documented |
| LibreOffice Calc | Yes | Yes (25.8.7.3, 2026-07-29) | Supported, behaves as documented |
LibreOffice version history
We executed the same test cases under each LibreOffice release to show exactly when LOOKUP’s support changed — not documentation claims, real results.
| LibreOffice version | Verdict | Tested |
|---|---|---|
| 24.2.0.3 | Supported, behaves as documented | 2026-08-29 |
| 24.8.7.2 | Supported, behaves as documented | 2026-08-29 |
| 25.2.0.3 | Supported, behaves as documented | 2026-08-29 |
| 25.8.7.3 | Supported, behaves as documented | 2026-07-29 |
Executed test cases
Excel for the web (executed 2026-09-01 via OneDrive recalculation)
These values come from Excel for the web, not from desktop Excel. They are two different implementations of the calculation engine, and this run measured only the web one: the corpus was uploaded to OneDrive as .xlsx, recalculated by Excel for the web on open, and downloaded again for readback. Excel for the web is a rolling service with no pinnable version, so the run is identified by its date. Where a value here disagrees with the Expected column — which is Microsoft’s documentation of the desktop product — we cannot tell you whether the web engine diverges from the desktop one or the documentation is wrong about both, because we do not run desktop Excel.
| Formula | Description | Result | Expected | Verdict |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| =LOOKUP(3,A1:A5,B1:B5) | Vector form exact match against an ascending-sorted lookup_vector | 30 | 30Provenancehttps://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/lookup-function-446d94af-663b-451d-8251-369d5e3864cb -- lookup_vector must be in ascending order for LOOKUP to work correctly; this vector is sorted |
Matched |
| =LOOKUP(3.5,A1:A5,B1:B5) | No exact match; LOOKUP uses the largest lookup_vector value that is <= lookup_value | 30 | 30Provenance3.5 has no exact match; largest value <=3.5 is 3 -> paired result 30 |
Matched |
| =LOOKUP(0,A1:A5,B1:B5) | lookup_value smaller than every entry in lookup_vector -> #N/A | #N/A | #N/A | Matched |
| =LOOKUP(2,A1:B3) | Array form (single 2-D argument, no separate result_vector): since A1:B3 has more rows than columns, LOOKUP searches the FIRST column and returns from the LAST column | 200 | 200ProvenancePer Microsoft docs' array-form rule (searches first row/col depending on which is longer): match on A2=2 returns paired last-column value 200 |
Matched |
Google Sheets (executed 2026-08-29 via Drive import)
Google Sheets is a rolling service with no pinnable version, so this run is identified by its date. The corpus was imported to Drive as .xlsx, recalculated by Sheets, and exported back for readback.
| Formula | Description | Result | Expected | Verdict |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| =LOOKUP(3,A1:A5,B1:B5) | Vector form exact match against an ascending-sorted lookup_vector | 30 | 30Provenancehttps://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/lookup-function-446d94af-663b-451d-8251-369d5e3864cb -- lookup_vector must be in ascending order for LOOKUP to work correctly; this vector is sorted |
Matched |
| =LOOKUP(3.5,A1:A5,B1:B5) | No exact match; LOOKUP uses the largest lookup_vector value that is <= lookup_value | 30 | 30Provenance3.5 has no exact match; largest value <=3.5 is 3 -> paired result 30 |
Matched |
| =LOOKUP(0,A1:A5,B1:B5) | lookup_value smaller than every entry in lookup_vector -> #N/A | #N/A | #N/A | Matched |
| =LOOKUP(2,A1:B3) | Array form (single 2-D argument, no separate result_vector): since A1:B3 has more rows than columns, LOOKUP searches the FIRST column and returns from the LAST column | 200 | 200ProvenancePer Microsoft docs' array-form rule (searches first row/col depending on which is longer): match on A2=2 returns paired last-column value 200 |
Matched |
LibreOffice Calc 25.8.7.3 (tested 2026-07-29)
| Formula | Description | Result | Expected | Verdict |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| =LOOKUP(3,A1:A5,B1:B5) | Vector form exact match against an ascending-sorted lookup_vector | 30 | 30Provenancehttps://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/lookup-function-446d94af-663b-451d-8251-369d5e3864cb -- lookup_vector must be in ascending order for LOOKUP to work correctly; this vector is sorted |
Matched |
| =LOOKUP(3.5,A1:A5,B1:B5) | No exact match; LOOKUP uses the largest lookup_vector value that is <= lookup_value | 30 | 30Provenance3.5 has no exact match; largest value <=3.5 is 3 -> paired result 30 |
Matched |
| =LOOKUP(0,A1:A5,B1:B5) | lookup_value smaller than every entry in lookup_vector -> #N/A | #N/A | #N/A | Matched |
| =LOOKUP(2,A1:B3) | Array form (single 2-D argument, no separate result_vector): since A1:B3 has more rows than columns, LOOKUP searches the FIRST column and returns from the LAST column | 200 | 200ProvenancePer Microsoft docs' array-form rule (searches first row/col depending on which is longer): match on A2=2 returns paired last-column value 200 |
Matched |
Docs & syntax
- Excel (desktop): official documentation
- Google Sheets: official documentation
- LibreOffice Calc: official documentation
Related how-to recipes
Where LOOKUP behaves differently
- ARRAYFORMULA in Google Sheets: when you need it, and when it can't help
Google Sheets uses only the first element of an array passed to a scalar function - our executed run returns 140 for =SUM(SUMIFS(C2:C6,A2:A6,{"North","South"})) against 220 in LibreOffice. ARRAYFORMULA fixes six of nine cases; for SUMIFS criteria it does not, and SUMPRODUCT is the portable form.