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Featured · Formula Guide

VLOOKUP vs XLOOKUP: which one should you actually use in 2026?

XLOOKUP has been available for years but most Excel users still reach for VLOOKUP by habit. We break down exactly when each formula is the right tool — and when you should use INDEX MATCH instead.

ExcelPro Team · June 4, 2026 8 min read

How to use SUMIF to total sales by region

A step-by-step guide to SUMIF with real data. Includes SUMIFS for multiple conditions and common mistakes to avoid.

Comparison guide

SUMIF vs SUMIFS vs SUMPRODUCT — which to use

Three formulas that all add conditionally, but work differently. The honest guide to which one to reach for.

Comparison guide

INDEX MATCH vs XLOOKUP in 2026 — which is better?

For years INDEX MATCH was the power user's alternative to VLOOKUP. Then XLOOKUP arrived. Here is the honest comparison.

Comparison guide

Excel vs Google Sheets — which formulas work in both?

Most Excel formulas transfer directly to Sheets. Here is exactly which ones are identical, which differ, and what is exclusive to each.

Step-by-step guide

How to make a pivot table in Excel

Pivot tables look intimidating until you build your first one. Exact steps, no jargon, no skipped steps.

Excel keyboard shortcuts you'll actually use

Not all 500+ shortcuts matter. The ones that genuinely save time, organized by what you're doing.

Step-by-step guide

Excel conditional formatting: complete guide

Highlight cells automatically based on values, dates, and custom formulas. Color scales, data bars, and formula-based rules explained.

Step-by-step guide

Excel data validation and dropdown lists

Control what goes into your spreadsheet — dropdown lists, number limits, date ranges, and custom validation rules explained.

Step-by-step guide

How to make a chart in Excel, step by step

Bar, line, pie, and scatter charts — how to create them, which type to use when, and common mistakes that mislead readers.

The 10 Excel skills every accountant needs in 2026

Based on 40 real job postings and hiring manager interviews. What actually gets you hired as an accountant today.

INDEX MATCH explained: why it beats VLOOKUP every time

VLOOKUP has one fatal flaw. INDEX MATCH doesn't. Here's the definitive guide with real examples you can practise.

IF statements in Excel: the complete beginner's guide

IF is the most powerful formula for beginners. Master it here with 10 real-world examples across different jobs.

XLOOKUP: the complete guide with 8 real examples

XLOOKUP replaces VLOOKUP, HLOOKUP, and INDEX MATCH in one formula. Here's everything you need to know.

Excel for HR managers: the formulas you use every day

From headcount tracking to payroll calculations — the specific Excel skills HR professionals actually need on the job.

Excel from scratch: everything a complete beginner needs to know

Never used Excel before? Start here. Cells, formulas, SUM, AVERAGE — explained simply with hands-on practice.

5 Excel shortcuts that save power users 2 hours a week

Not the obvious Ctrl+C shortcuts. These are the ones power users rely on every single day — and most people never learn.

Comparison guide

AVERAGE vs AVERAGEIF vs AVERAGEIFS — Which to Use?

Compare Excel AVERAGE, AVERAGEIF, and AVERAGEIFS functions. When to use each with real examples.

Comparison guide

CONCAT vs TEXTJOIN vs & in Excel — Which to Use?

Compare Excel text joining methods — the & operator, CONCAT, and TEXTJOIN. When to use each one with real exam...

Comparison guide

COUNT vs COUNTIF vs COUNTIFS — Which to Use?

The definitive comparison of COUNT, COUNTIF, and COUNTIFS in Excel. When to use each function with real exampl...

Excel Dynamic Arrays: The Complete Guide (2026)

Master Excel dynamic arrays — FILTER, SORT, UNIQUE, SEQUENCE, SORTBY, and how spill ranges work. The future of...

10 Common Excel Mistakes (and How to Fix Them)

The 10 most common Excel mistakes beginners make — and exactly how to fix each one. Covers formulas, formattin...

How to Build an Excel Dashboard (Step by Step)

How to build a professional Excel dashboard — pivot tables, charts, slicers, and dynamic data connections. Ste...

Excel Data Cleaning: Formulas and Techniques

How to clean messy data in Excel — remove spaces, fix case, convert text to numbers, handle duplicates, and st...

Excel Financial Modelling: A Beginner's Guide

How to build a basic financial model in Excel — best practices, structure, key formulas, and how to avoid the ...

Excel Skills Every Accountant Needs in 2026

The Excel formulas accountants use every day — financial ratios, reconciliation, lookups, and pivot tables for...

Excel for Beginners: Complete Guide 2026

The complete Excel beginner guide for 2026. Learn formulas, functions, formatting, and how to build your first...

Excel Skills Every Data Analyst Needs in 2026

The Excel formulas and features every data analyst needs to know in 2026 — dynamic arrays, FILTER, XLOOKUP, pi...

Excel Skills for Finance and Banking Professionals

Excel formulas for finance and banking — NPV, IRR, PMT, financial ratios, and the modelling skills used in inv...

Excel Skills for Healthcare Professionals

Excel formulas for healthcare workers — patient data, scheduling, cost analysis, and reporting for clinical an...

Excel Skills Every HR Manager Needs

The Excel formulas HR managers use every day — headcount tracking, tenure calculations, leave management, and ...

Excel Skills Every Sales Professional Needs

Excel formulas for sales teams — commission calculations, pipeline analysis, territory reporting, and sales da...

Excel for Small Business Owners: The Essential Guide

Excel formulas and templates every small business owner needs — cash flow tracking, invoicing, inventory, and ...

Excel Skills Every Student and Graduate Needs

The Excel skills employers expect from graduates in 2026 — formulas, data analysis, and how to stand out in jo...

Excel Power Query: What It Is and When to Use It

An introduction to Power Query in Excel — what it does, when to use it instead of formulas, and how to get sta...

25 Excel Tips and Tricks That Save Hours Every Week (2026)

25 practical Excel tips and tricks for 2026 — keyboard shortcuts, formula tricks, and hidden features that sav...

Comparison guide

FIND vs SEARCH in Excel — What's the Difference?

Compare Excel FIND and SEARCH functions. The key difference is case sensitivity — here's when each one matters...

Step-by-step guide

How to Calculate Age in Excel (Years, Months, Days)

Calculate exact age in Excel using DATEDIF and TODAY. Returns age in years, months, days, or a combination of ...

Step-by-step guide

How to Calculate Percentages in Excel (Every Formula)

Every percentage formula you need in Excel — percentage of total, percentage change, adding a percentage, and ...

Step-by-step guide

How to Count Cells in Excel: COUNT, COUNTA, COUNTIF, COUNTIFS

The complete guide to counting cells in Excel — COUNT, COUNTA, COUNTBLANK, COUNTIF, and COUNTIFS with real exa...

Step-by-step guide

How to Create Any Chart in Excel (Complete Guide)

How to create bar charts, line charts, pie charts, and scatter plots in Excel. Step-by-step with chart type gu...

Step-by-step guide

How to Create a Dropdown List in Excel (Step by Step)

Create dropdown lists in Excel using Data Validation. Step-by-step guide covering static lists, dynamic lists ...

Step-by-step guide

How to Filter Data in Excel (AutoFilter and FILTER Function)

Two ways to filter data in Excel — AutoFilter for manual filtering and the FILTER function for dynamic formula...

Step-by-step guide

How to Freeze Rows and Columns in Excel

Learn how to freeze the top row, first column, or any pane in Excel so headers stay visible while you scroll t...

Step-by-step guide

How to Make a Table in Excel (and Why You Should)

Learn how to create an Excel Table with Ctrl+T, what makes Tables different from plain ranges, and why experie...

Step-by-step guide

How to Merge Cells in Excel (and Why You Often Shouldn't)

How to merge cells in Excel, when merging breaks things, and the better alternative — Centre Across Selection.

Step-by-step guide

How to Remove Duplicates in Excel (3 Methods)

Three ways to find and remove duplicate values in Excel — the Remove Duplicates button, COUNTIF, and the UNIQU...

Step-by-step guide

How to Sort Data in Excel (4 Ways)

Four ways to sort data in Excel — the Sort button, custom sort, SORT function, and SORTBY. When to use each on...

Step-by-step guide

How to Split Text in Excel (TEXTBEFORE, TEXTAFTER, TEXTSPLIT)

Split text in Excel using TEXTBEFORE, TEXTAFTER, and TEXTSPLIT. Extract first names, domains, file extensions,...

Step-by-step guide

Excel Date Functions: The Complete Guide

Complete guide to Excel date functions — TODAY, NOW, DATE, DATEDIF, NETWORKDAYS, WORKDAY, EDATE, EOMONTH, and ...

Step-by-step guide

How to Use Named Ranges in Excel

Learn how to create and use named ranges in Excel to make formulas readable, easier to maintain, and less erro...

Step-by-step guide

How to Wrap Text in Excel (and When to Use It)

Learn how to wrap text in Excel so long content displays on multiple lines within a cell, plus when to use Wra...

Comparison guide

IF vs IFS vs SWITCH in Excel — Which to Use?

Compare Excel IF, IFS, and SWITCH functions. When nested IF becomes unreadable and IFS or SWITCH is the better...

Comparison guide

LEFT vs MID vs RIGHT in Excel — Which to Use?

Compare Excel LEFT, MID, and RIGHT text functions. Learn when to use each one with real examples for extractin...

Comparison guide

SUM vs SUMIF vs SUMIFS — Which to Use?

Compare Excel SUM, SUMIF, and SUMIFS. When to use each function with real examples — and why SUMIFS should be ...

Comparison guide

VLOOKUP vs HLOOKUP — What's the Difference?

Compare Excel VLOOKUP and HLOOKUP. When to use each one and why XLOOKUP has replaced both for most use cases.

Comparison guide

COUNTA vs COUNT vs COUNTBLANK in Excel — Which to Use?

Compare COUNTA, COUNT, and COUNTBLANK in Excel. Understand exactly what each counts and when to use each one....

Comparison guide

DATE vs DATEVALUE vs TEXT for Dates in Excel

Compare Excel DATE, DATEVALUE, and TEXT functions for working with dates. When to use each one and how to conv...

University guide

Excel for Business Case Studies: NPV, Break-Even, and Scenario Analysis

Excel formulas for MBA and business students — NPV, IRR, break-even analysis, scenario modelling, and sensitiv...

University guide

Excel for Economics Students: Growth Rates, Index Numbers, and CAGR

Excel formulas for economics students — GDP growth rates, price index numbers, CAGR, elasticity, and economic ...

University guide

Excel for Statistics Students: STDEV, CORREL, and Regression

Excel statistical functions for university students — standard deviation, correlation, regression, frequency d...

University guide

How to Present Data in Excel for University Assignments

How to present data professionally in Excel for university assignments — formatting, charts, summary tables, a...

Comparison guide

IFERROR vs IFNA vs ISERROR in Excel — Which to Use?

Compare Excel IFERROR, IFNA, and ISERROR. When each error-handling function is appropriate and how to avoid hi...

Comparison guide

INDIRECT vs OFFSET in Excel — What's the Difference?

Compare Excel INDIRECT and OFFSET functions. Both create dynamic references, but they work very differently — ...

Comparison guide

MATCH vs INDEX vs VLOOKUP in Excel — The Definitive Guide

Compare MATCH, INDEX, and VLOOKUP in Excel. When to use each, how they work together, and why INDEX MATCH beat...

Comparison guide

SUMPRODUCT vs SUMIFS in Excel — Which is Faster?

Compare SUMPRODUCT and SUMIFS in Excel. When SUMPRODUCT is more powerful, when SUMIFS is faster, and which to ...

How to Create a Dynamic Dropdown List in Excel

Create dynamic dropdown lists in Excel that update automatically — using UNIQUE, named ranges, dependent dropd...

Excel Array Formulas — Complete Advanced Guide

Master Excel array formulas — legacy Ctrl+Shift+Enter arrays, dynamic arrays in Excel 365, and when to use eac...

Excel Skills for Logistics and Supply Chain Professionals

Excel formulas for logistics and supply chain — inventory management, delivery tracking, supplier analysis, an...

Excel Skills Every Marketing Student and Professional Needs

Excel formulas for marketing — campaign analysis, ROI calculations, customer segmentation, and marketing dashb...

University guide

Excel Skills Every MBA Student Needs

The Excel skills MBA students need for case competitions, finance courses, and consulting internships — financ...

Excel Skills Every Project Manager Needs

Excel formulas and techniques for project managers — Gantt charts, resource tracking, budget vs actual, and pr...

Step-by-step guide

How to Highlight Duplicates in Excel (3 Methods)

Three ways to highlight duplicate values in Excel — conditional formatting, COUNTIF, and the Remove Duplicates...

Step-by-step guide

How to Create a Budget in Excel (Step by Step)

Build a complete personal or business budget in Excel from scratch. Step-by-step guide with formulas, categori...

How to Pass an Excel Assessment Test (Complete Guide)

How to prepare for and pass an Excel assessment test for job applications. What employers test, common questio...

Step-by-step guide

How to Use IF with Multiple Conditions in Excel

How to write Excel IF formulas with multiple conditions using AND, OR, nested IF, and IFS. Real examples for e...

Excel IF Statements with Multiple Outcomes — Complete Guide

How to write Excel IF statements that return more than two outcomes — nested IF, IFS, SWITCH, and CHOOSE with ...

Comparison guide

IF vs AND vs OR in Excel — How They Work Together

How Excel IF, AND, and OR work together. Combine logical functions to test multiple conditions with real examp...

Comparison guide

LEFT vs TEXTBEFORE in Excel — Old Way vs New Way

Compare Excel LEFT and TEXTBEFORE for extracting text. When the new TEXTBEFORE function is simpler, and when L...

Comparison guide

MAX vs LARGE vs MAXIFS in Excel — Which to Use?

Compare Excel MAX, LARGE, and MAXIFS. When to use each function for finding maximum values with examples....

Comparison guide

MIN vs SMALL vs MINIFS in Excel — Which to Use?

Compare Excel MIN, SMALL, and MINIFS. When to use each function for finding minimum values with real examples....

Comparison guide

ROUND vs ROUNDUP vs ROUNDDOWN vs TRUNC in Excel

Compare Excel ROUND, ROUNDUP, ROUNDDOWN, and TRUNC. When each rounding function is appropriate with real examp...

Step-by-step guide

How to Calculate a Running Total in Excel

Three ways to calculate a running total in Excel — simple cumulative SUM, SUM with mixed references, and SUMIF...

Comparison guide

SUMIF vs COUNTIF in Excel — What's the Difference?

Compare SUMIF and COUNTIF in Excel. They look similar but do completely different things — here's the exact di...

SUMPRODUCT Advanced Guide: Beyond the Basics

Master SUMPRODUCT beyond basic counting and summing — array multiplication, conditional calculations, weighted...

Top 30 Excel Formulas for Graduate Job Applications (2026)

The 30 Excel formulas most commonly tested in graduate job applications and internship assessments in 2026, wi...

Step-by-step guide

How to Track Expenses in Excel

Build a personal or business expense tracker in Excel. Record transactions, categorise spending, and summarise...

VLOOKUP with Multiple Conditions in Excel

How to use VLOOKUP with multiple conditions in Excel — helper columns, CHOOSE arrays, INDEX MATCH with multipl...

Step-by-step guide

How to Use VLOOKUP Across Multiple Sheets in Excel

Use VLOOKUP across multiple sheets in Excel. Syntax for cross-sheet references, INDIRECT for dynamic sheet nam...

Comparison guide

WORKDAY vs NETWORKDAYS vs DAYS in Excel

Compare Excel WORKDAY, NETWORKDAYS, and DAYS. Three date functions that each solve a different problem — when ...

Comparison guide

XLOOKUP vs INDEX MATCH vs VLOOKUP — The Ultimate Comparison (2026)

The definitive comparison of XLOOKUP, INDEX MATCH, and VLOOKUP in 2026. Which to use, when each one wins, and ...

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🔥 Most read

VLOOKUP vs XLOOKUP: which to use?

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10 Excel skills every accountant needs

Career tips · 10 min

INDEX MATCH: the definitive guide

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IF statements for beginners

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SUMIF vs SUMIFS explained

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