vLookup in Numbers?

Yes. VLOOKUP(search-value, cell-range, column, [exact-match])

Search for VLOOKUP in the Help file.

The "Personal Budget" template is a good example of some of Numbers' table / lookup functions. Numbers uses a different thought process for spreadsheets.

Regards,

Numbers has a vlookup function, but it doesn't do what Excel's will do -- at least not with a simple spreadsheet I use at work all the time. Excel's vlookup will reference a worksheet in another file such that I can take a master parts list and/or price list and reference it in another sheet, such as a job estimate. If the master list changes, I change it in one place, reopen/refresh the estimate sheet and the data all changes appropriately.

I'm still very new with Numbers. I've been playing with it for only an hour. I don't know if the reusable table and template features in Numbers will do what I want, but the fact that I cannot take Excel workbooks containing Excel vlookup functions back and forth from work (Windows land) and home (Mac land) is a disappointment.

Numbers is one nifty piece of eye candy thus far, though.

I'm not saying that the different thought process isn't better. I like what I see in Numbers -- enough to put in the order to purchase iWork '08 today.

I just wish that Excel's vlookup function imported and was adjusted to match Numbers' approach. Likewise, I'd want to take any file I edited in Numbers back to work with me. I could then consider ditching Excel X.

So, the problem with a lookup function isn't how Apple's design gets work done when the work is originally done in Numbers. The problem is an import/export barrier to sharing files containing Excel vlookup functions back and forth with Windows folks.

...

This aspect has been a problem for the various versions of Pages. If you must have 100% compatibility, then Word or Excel is the product to use. I'm using Virtual PC & Office on my Mac to have 100% compatibility with Excel at Work and Home as the Mac version of Office is not fully compatible with the W$ version.

I've started converting one of my Excel sheets to Numbers. Importing the Excel project was rather "ugly" with respect to retaining certain equations, external links, pivot tables, etc.. Creating the project new in Numbers is showing me how different Numbers is from Excel. While Numbers is not a full Excel replacement, its new layout process is interesting.

Numbers should be compared more with Appleworks Spreadsheet than Excel(?)

Regards,

As probably with most folks, 100% isn't the goal -- just the extra tiny bit I want or need (ha ha). I agree completely about comparing Numbers to AW instead of Excel. The difference in the scope of the lookup functionality will impact one part of my work, but isn't a deal-breaker. I've enjoyed AW since when it was Claris Works and I will use Numbers as its successor for all my spreadsheet work on personal projects -- and whatever from work it'll import/export cleanly & completely.