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How to VLOOKUP from another sheet

✓ Verified in LibreOffice 25.8.7.3 ✓ Verified in Google Sheets (2026-08-30)

Pull a value from a lookup table that lives on a different tab.

The formula

AppFormulaNotes
Excel (desktop)=VLOOKUP(A2,Prices!A:B,2,FALSE)SheetName!Range. Quote names with spaces: ='Price List'!A:B.
Google Sheets=VLOOKUP(A2,Prices!A:B,2,FALSE)Identical syntax.
LibreOffice Calc=VLOOKUP(A2,Prices.A:B,2,FALSE)LibreOffice uses a DOT between sheet and cell (Prices.A:B) instead of the ! — the one real cross-app difference here.

How it works

Prefix the lookup range with the other tab's name: VLOOKUP finds "banana" in the Prices sheet and returns 20 — everything else works exactly as a same-sheet VLOOKUP. Excel and Google Sheets separate the sheet name from the range with an exclamation mark (Prices!A:B); LibreOffice Calc uses a dot (Prices.A:B), which is the gotcha when a file moves between them. Wrap sheet names containing spaces in single quotes. This recipe was verified by actually placing the table on a second tab and executing the cross-sheet formula.

Verified, not just documented

We ran =VLOOKUP(A2,Prices!A1:B3,2,FALSE) in LibreOffice 25.8.7.3 (headless, with forced recalculation) and it returned 20 — exactly the expected result. We then ran the same formulas in Google Sheets, executed 2026-08-30: a formula-only workbook goes into Google Drive, which converts it to a Sheet and recalculates every formula with Google’s own engine, and comes back out as .xlsx carrying the values Google computed. It returned 20 for the worked example, the same value LibreOffice produced. Both engines’ numbers on this page are executed results. The Excel formula follows Microsoft’s official documented syntax — we do not run desktop Excel.

Functions used

VLOOKUP — see full Excel, Google Sheets & LibreOffice compatibility for each.

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