Are you ready to take your Google Sheets skills to the next level? Today, I’m going to share with you some handy tips and tricks for using the Min function in Vlookup. Whether you’re a beginner or an experienced user, this article will help you make the most of this powerful tool.
How to Use Min in Vlookup in Google Sheets
Let’s start by understanding the basics. In a Vlookup formula, the search_key is typically the value you’re looking for. But what if you want to find the minimum value in a column and use it as the search_key? Well, that’s where the Min function comes into play.
Here’s an example to help illustrate the concept. Let’s say you have a list of campaign budgets in column A and the corresponding campaign names in column B. To find the campaign name with the minimum budget, you can use the following formula:
=Vlookup(MIN(A2:A),A2:B,2,0)In this formula, the Min function returns the minimum budget as the search_key in Vlookup. Since the minimum budget is in the first column of the Vlookup range, there’s no issue in retrieving the corresponding campaign name.
But what if you have strings instead of numbers in the column? Well, you can use the Mina function to treat the strings as zeros. However, there’s a catch. The Mina function won’t work directly in the Vlookup formula because the search_key is not in the first column. To overcome this, you need to use the N function to convert the strings to zeros within the Vlookup range. Here’s an example formula:
=ArrayFormula(Vlookup(MINA(A2:A),{N(A2:A),B2:B},2,0))Note that this method may not always be helpful if there are multiple strings in the column, as the formula would return the value corresponding to the first string.
But what if you want to find the second or third minimum value? In such cases, you can use the Small function instead of the Min function. Here’s an example:
=Vlookup(SMALL(A2:A,2),A2:B,2,0)This formula will return the campaign name corresponding to the second smallest budget.
Vlookup to Return Multiple Values from the Found Row
So far, we’ve seen examples of returning values from a single column. But what if you have additional columns and you want to return values from both columns based on the minimum value? Here’s how you can do it:
=ArrayFormula(Vlookup(MIN(A2:A),A2:C,{2,3},0))In this formula, the curly braces {2,3} indicate that we want to return values from the second and third columns of the corresponding row.
Min Other than in the First Column in Vlookup
In most cases, the minimum value you want to find won’t be in the first column of the Vlookup range. To handle this situation, you can use a reverse Vlookup technique.
Here’s how it works:
- Shuffle the columns within the Vlookup range to make the column with the minimum value the first column.
- Use the Vlookup formula as usual.
For example, if the column with the minimum value is B, and the column you want to retrieve data from is A, you can use the following formula:
=Vlookup(MIN(B2:B),{B2:B,A2:A},2,0)By shuffling the columns, we ensure that the Vlookup function searches down the column with the minimum value as the first column.
Vlookup to Return Min Value From Each Group
In some cases, you may want to find the minimum value within each group of data. To do this, you need to sort the data before using the Vlookup formula. Here’s an example:
=Vlookup("Campaign 1",SORT(A2:D,3,TRUE),3,0)In this formula, we sort the data in ascending order based on column 3 (the group column). Then, we use the Vlookup formula to find the minimum value for “Campaign 1” within the sorted data.
Another approach is to use the unique function to create an array of unique values and then use a combination of ArrayFormula and Vlookup. Here’s an example:
=IFERROR(ArrayFormula(Vlookup(UNIQUE(A2:A),SORT(A2:D,3,TRUE),3,0)))This formula returns the minimum value for each group as an array.
Alternatively, you can remove the need for Vlookup altogether by using the Sortn function. This function allows you to sort data and return the first row from each group. Here’s an example:
=SORTN(SORT(A2:D,3,TRUE),9^9,2,1,TRUE)This formula returns the rows with the minimum values from each group, sorted in ascending order.
Conclusion
Congratulations! You’ve now mastered the Min function in Vlookup in Google Sheets. By understanding its various applications and techniques, you can unlock the full potential of this powerful tool. Remember to experiment and adapt these formulas to suit your specific needs. If you have any doubts or questions, feel free to leave a comment on Crawlan.com. Happy Sheets-ing!
