Vlookup giving mixed results on same dataset

Hi all

I have an issue and was wondering if people had come across this before and maybe have any solutions.

I have a dataset on one sheet with approx 2000 rows and 3 columns. In the first column I have name, then in the second a reference (not needed) and the third an email address. I am using the following formula on the first sheet to reference this second.

=vlookup((Axx,Sheet2!A:C,3,FALSE)

Sheet 2 contains the data I am trying to lookup.

I have never had issues with VLOOKUP before but now I am getting inconsistent results. On the first pass of drag and drop the formula, I get #N/A as a result. I thought this was due to not having data but when I checked, it was there. I drag and drop again and the email address appears. THis seems to be random and no pattern.

Any ideas anybody?

Thanks in advance as always.

vlookup example.xlsx

Hi Pepe

I have included an example and this works fine, but at least you can see what I am trying to do. AS I have over 2000 rows though and 5 columns in the lookup, I guess the question could be, is excel capable of handling that many or is there a limit set??

Hi Pepe

Tried this and it now gives better results but still not correct. I have also read another post whereby the cells look the same but in fact contain hidden chars like CR etc. I am going to clear down my data and look at how I han just use it as vanilla plain text. I think this should help.

Thanks for your help Pepe