Do you sometimes wish you could quickly find a specific piece of data in your Excel® worksheet? Without having to scroll up, down, left and right through tens, hundreds, or even thousands of columns and rows? You can easily, with the Excel Lookup Wizard.

If you’ve never used the Lookup Wizard before, you’ll need to install it. To do so in Excel 2003, go to Tools -> Add-Ins -> Lookup Windows -> OK. In Excel 2007, select Office -> Excel Options -> Add-Ins -> Lookup Wizard -> Go -> Lookup Wizard -> OK -> Yes.

Once the Lookup Wizard is installed, it can be accessed from the Tools menu in Excel 2003, and from the Formula menu under “Solutions” in Excel 2007.

Now that that’s out of the way, you can search for a value. First, select or highlight a table, or all the cells in which you want to search. Don’t forget to include the column and row labels, which are needed for the wizard to work.

Now launch the Lookup Wizard, and you will be taken through four simple steps.

Step 1: First you need to verify that the range of cells Excel has automatically filled in is correct. If the range shown is correct, click “Next”; if it isn’t, fill in the correct range.
Step 2: Excel has put the headings of the columns and rows you have selected in two drop-down menus. Select the column and row containing the value you are looking for. Click “Next”.
Step 3:  Choose “Copy just the formula to a single cell” if you want just the specific cell value to be shown. If you want the value to be shown along with the column and row header, choose “Copy the formula and lookup parameters”. Click “Next”.
Step 4: Now select the cell(s) in your worksheet in which you want the data to appear. Click “Finish”.

Voila! Now the information you want will appear in the specified cell(s), saving you a lot of scrolling and eyestrain.

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