I am trying to use Index and Match to populate a column that is in a short date format (i.e. 01/01/13), as is the data I'm asking it to find. However, there are also blank cells (with no date) in my range that I am looking up. I still want the formula to return a blank cell (when the cell is blank) and then return the "short date" value for those that have dates.

I have been playing with the Index Match formula below for a while and need some help to figure it out, as it is not working how I want it to. This formula works great if the cell has a date in it, but it returns 01/00/00 for the cells that are blank. I've tried adding the &" " at the end (but that doesn't work at all).

[ =INDEX('Employee Data'!$AN$2:$AN$88,MATCH($A4,'Employee Data'!$A$2:$A$88,0)) ]

The following VLOOKUP formula does exactly what I want, but I would like to use INDEX / MATCH because I will be adding columns from time to time in my source worksheet.

[ =IF(ISBLANK(VLOOKUP($A8,'Employee Data'!$A$2:$BR$61,40,0)),"",VLOOKUP($A8,'Employee Data'!$A$2:$BR$61,40,0)) ]

Thanks for your help! This is my first time posting...so I hope I have followed the rules properly....if not, I am so sorry!!