VLOOKUP

Quirk found

Category: Lookup and reference · Last tested 2026-09-01

Real compatibility results for the VLOOKUP 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)	Quirk found

LibreOffice version history

We executed the same test cases under each LibreOffice release to show exactly when VLOOKUP’s support changed — not documentation claims, real results.

LibreOffice version	Verdict	Tested
24.2.0.3	Quirk found	2026-08-29
24.8.7.2	Quirk found	2026-08-29
25.2.0.3	Quirk found	2026-08-29
25.8.7.3	Quirk found	2026-07-29

Why isn't VLOOKUP working in LibreOffice?

VLOOKUP exists in LibreOffice 25.8.7.3, but it is not a drop-in match for Excel — our executed tests found real behavioral differences (detailed in the test results on this page). If a formula that works in Excel or Google Sheets misbehaves in LibreOffice, compare your usage against the failing cases above before assuming your data is wrong.

Discovered quirks

=VLOOKUP("a",A1:B3,5,FALSE) on LibreOffice Calc returned #VALUE!, but the documented/expected result is #REF!.
Provenance
Microsoft docs specify #REF! for out-of-range col_index_num; record engines' ACTUAL error code here since this is a known point of cross-engine divergence; MISMATCH vs expected: expected '#REF!', got '#VALUE!'

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
=VLOOKUP("b",A1:B3,2,FALSE)	Exact match mode (range_lookup=FALSE)	2	2	Matched
=VLOOKUP(3,A1:B5,2,TRUE)	Approximate match requires ascending sorted first column	20	20 Provenance 3 is between 2 and 4; approx match returns the row for the largest value <= lookup (2 -> 20)	Matched
=VLOOKUP("z",A1:B3,2,FALSE)	Exact match with no match -> #N/A	#N/A	#N/A	Matched
=VLOOKUP("a",A1:B3,5,FALSE)	col_index_num beyond the table width -> #REF! per Microsoft docs	#REF!	#REF! Provenance Microsoft docs specify #REF! for out-of-range col_index_num; record engines' ACTUAL error code here since this is a known point of cross-engine divergence	Matched
=VLOOKUP("a*",A1:B3,2,FALSE)	Wildcards are honored even in exact-match mode	1	1 Provenance First row matching the a* wildcard pattern is 'apple'	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
=VLOOKUP("b",A1:B3,2,FALSE)	Exact match mode (range_lookup=FALSE)	2	2	Matched
=VLOOKUP(3,A1:B5,2,TRUE)	Approximate match requires ascending sorted first column	20	20 Provenance 3 is between 2 and 4; approx match returns the row for the largest value <= lookup (2 -> 20)	Matched
=VLOOKUP("z",A1:B3,2,FALSE)	Exact match with no match -> #N/A	#N/A	#N/A	Matched
=VLOOKUP("a",A1:B3,5,FALSE)	col_index_num beyond the table width -> #REF! per Microsoft docs	#REF!	#REF! Provenance Microsoft docs specify #REF! for out-of-range col_index_num; record engines' ACTUAL error code here since this is a known point of cross-engine divergence	Matched
=VLOOKUP("a*",A1:B3,2,FALSE)	Wildcards are honored even in exact-match mode	1	1 Provenance First row matching the a* wildcard pattern is 'apple'	Matched

LibreOffice Calc 25.8.7.3 (tested 2026-07-29)

Formula	Description	Result	Expected	Verdict
=VLOOKUP("b",A1:B3,2,FALSE)	Exact match mode (range_lookup=FALSE)	2	2	Matched
=VLOOKUP(3,A1:B5,2,TRUE)	Approximate match requires ascending sorted first column	20	20 Provenance 3 is between 2 and 4; approx match returns the row for the largest value <= lookup (2 -> 20)	Matched
=VLOOKUP("z",A1:B3,2,FALSE)	Exact match with no match -> #N/A	#N/A	#N/A	Matched
=VLOOKUP("a",A1:B3,5,FALSE)	col_index_num beyond the table width -> #REF! per Microsoft docs	#VALUE!	#REF! Provenance Microsoft docs specify #REF! for out-of-range col_index_num; record engines' ACTUAL error code here since this is a known point of cross-engine divergence	Mismatch
=VLOOKUP("a*",A1:B3,2,FALSE)	Wildcards are honored even in exact-match mode	1	1 Provenance First row matching the a* wildcard pattern is 'apple'	Matched

Docs & syntax

Excel (desktop): official documentation
Google Sheets: official documentation
LibreOffice Calc: official documentation

Related how-to recipes

Where VLOOKUP behaves differently

Every error code LibreOffice reports as #VALUE!
Across our 2,334-case executed corpus, 272 cases in 135 functions return #VALUE! in LibreOffice Calc 25.8.7.3 where Microsoft documents #NUM! (244), #N/A (15), #DIV/0! (10) or #REF! (3). Google Sheets returns the documented code on 239 of the 249 it has a function for. Identical in all four LibreOffice builds tested.
VLOOKUP bad column index: Excel #REF! vs LibreOffice #VALUE!
Microsoft documents an out-of-range col_index_num as #REF!; LibreOffice Calc returns #VALUE! instead. The lookup still fails — but every guard written around #REF! stops matching.
openpyxl and _xlfn.XLOOKUP: why your XLOOKUP opens as #NAME?
openpyxl writes formula text verbatim, so =XLOOKUP(...) is stored in the .xlsx under its plain name. Executed 2026-09-12: that cell is #NAME? in Excel for the web and in all four pinned LibreOffice builds, while =_xlfn.XLOOKUP(...) returns 20 in Excel for the web and in LibreOffice 24.8, 25.2 and 25.8.