Excel Lookup Multiple Criteria

How to do an Excel lookup with 2 or more criteria in columns, with the FILTER function (Office 365), or the INDEX and MATCH functions. Get the sample file, then watch the step-by-step video, or follow the written instructions.

Excel Lookup With 2 Criteria

See how to do an Excel lookup with 2 criteria. using either:

1. INDEX/MATCH functions (all Excel versions)
2. or the FILTER function (Excel 365)

To help you get started, there are 2 videos below, and there are written steps below the videos:

1) Excel Lookup with Multiple Criteria: Shows how the INDEX and MATCH functions work together, with one criterion. Next, at the 1:50 mark, the formula is changed, to work with 2 criteria. To follow along with the video, download the sample file.

2) Get Started with Excel FILTER function: Shows how the FILTER function works, with one criterion. The 3rd example at the 6:00 mark, shows the FILTER function with 2 criteria. To follow along with the video, download the sample file.

FILTER or INDEX/MATCH

To help you decide which solution to use for an Excel lookup with multiple criteria, here are the key differences between them.

INDEX/MATCH

• These functions are available in all versions of Excel
• If there are multiple results for the criteria, the first result from the range is returned
• The multi-criteria formula must be array entered, unless Excel version has dynamic arrays

FILTER

• This function is only available if your version of Excel has dynamic arrays (Office 365). Be sure that other people who need to use the workbook also have dynamic arrays
• If there are multiple results for the criteria, the results will spill down to the rows below, to show all of the items.
• Does not need to be array-entered

INDEX and MATCH

To do this Excel lookup with multiple criteria, you can use the INDEX and MATCH functions.

• The INDEX function can return a value from a specific place in a list
• The MATCH function can find the location of an item in a list.

When INDEX and MATCH are used together, they create a flexible and powerful lookup formula.

Simple INDEX and MATCH

Before using INDEX and MATCH with multiple criteria, let's see how they work together in a simple formula.

In this example, we need to find “Sweater” in a column B of a price list, and get its price from column C.

• The Item criterion is entered in cell A7 – Sweater
• This INDEX and MATCH formula is entered in cell C7, to get the price for that item:

=INDEX($C$2:$C$4,MATCH(A7,$B$2:$B$4,0))

How Simple INDEX MATCH Formula Works

Here’s how that simple INDEX / MATCH formula finds the sweater price:

• the MATCH function looks for “Sweater” in the range B2:B4. The result is 1, because “Sweater” is in the first row of that range.
• the INDEX function returns the price from the first row in the range C2:C4 --10.

So, by combining INDEX and MATCH, you can find the row location of an item, and return the price from that row.

INDEX/MATCH 2 Criteria

In the previous example, the match was based on one criterion -- the Item name. For the next lookup, there are 2 criteria -- Item and Size.

In this pricing lookup table, each item is listed 3 times - once for each size. We want to find the price for a specific Item and Size.

• Item: Jacket - entered in cell C13
• Size: Large - entered in cell D13

The price for a large jacket is 40, so that should be the result if an INDEX/MATCH formula is entered in cell E13.

INDEX/MATCH Formula 2 Criteria

To calculate the price based on 2 criteria, enter this array-entered* INDEX and MATCH formula in cell E13. The formula is explained below.

• =INDEX(E2:E10,
  MATCH(1,
  (C13=$C$2:$C$10) * (D13=$D$2:$D$10),0))

*Array-entered -- Press Ctrl + Shift + Enter, instead of just pressing the Enter key. That will automatically add curly brackets around the formula.

How the 2 Criteria Formula Works

Here's how this INDEX MATCH multiple criteria formula works.

INDEX Function

Product prices are in cells E2:E10, and INDEX will return a Price from that range.

• =INDEX(E2:E10,

MATCH Function - Find the Row

The MATCH function tells INDEX which row to use in that range

1) In the MATCH function, the first argument, lookup_value, is 1

• MATCH(1,

2a) For the second argument, lookup_array, there are 2 tests:

• is Jacket in the Item column - TRUE (1) or FALSE (0)
  • (C13=$C$2:$C$10)
• is Large in the Size column - TRUE or FALSE
  • (D13=$D$2:$D$10)

2b) Next, those TRUE and FALSE results are multiplied, to return zeros and ones

• 

2c) In this example, only the 8th product matches both criteria, Jacket and Large, and returns a 1

• If the lookup_array argument is evaluated in the formula bar, there is a 1 in the 8th position of the array.
• 

3) The third argument in MATCH, match_type, is zero, to return an exact match.

INDEX/MATCH Result

So, the result of the MATCH function is 8, because it found an exact match for the the lookup value, 1, in the 8th position in the lookup array

• 

Based on that result, INDEX returns the price for the 8th product in the price lookup table.

FILTER Function

If your version of Excel has dynamic arrays (Office 365), you can use the new FILTER function to return the results that you need. The FILTER function lets you return results from a range, based on your criteria.

In this example, there is a named table, tblProducts, with columns for Code, Item, Size and Price.

Criteria Cells

At the top of the sheet, two criteria have been entered:

• Item - Jacket
• Size - Large

Based on those criteria, we need two results - Price and Code.

Product Price with FILTER

The FILTER function has 3 arguments -- array, include, and if_empty (optional)

For the array argument, we need a result from the Price column:

=FILTER(tblProducts[Price],

For the include argument, the formula must check the Item column, to see if it matches cell A2

• (tblProducts[Item]=A2)

AND the formula must check the Size column, to see if it matches cell B2

• (tblProducts[Size]=B2)

Both criteria are in the include argument, with the Multiply operator (*) between them

=FILTER(tblProducts[Price], (tblProducts[Item]=A2) * (tblProducts[Size]=B2))

Product Code with FILTER

The FILTER formula to return the product code is almost the same, but for the array argument, we need a result from the Code column:

=FILTER(tblProducts[Code], (tblProducts[Item]=A2) * (tblProducts[Size]=B2))

Get the Sample File

• INDEX/MATCH: To follow along with the INDEX/MATCH video, download the zipped sample Lookup with Multiple Criteria file. The workbook is in xlsx format, and does not contain any macros.  
• FILTER Function Examples: To see the four FILTER examples, download the FILTER function examples workbook. The file is zipped, and is in Excel xlsx format, with no macros.

More Tutorials

INDEX / MATCH Functions

FILTER function examples

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