XLOOKUP Release Date

XLOOKUP was announced as a replacement for the iconic VLOOKUP formula in August of 2019. As of February 2020, XLOOKUP is now available to some Office 365 users (see below) but even if you don’t have it yet, and you are wondering how to get XLOOKUP, you would still be able to use it. Maybe you are looking at your Excel and you find that XLOOKUP is not avaiable. Find out why below.

The XLOOKUP release date is:

  • January 31st 2020 – Monthly Channel and Office Online
  • July 2020 – Semi-Annual Channel

XLOOKUP is now available to all Office 365 Subscribers in the Monthly Channel and will be available to users in the Semi-Annual Channel starting in July. Follow the links for a more detailed description of the Monthly Channel and the Semi-Annual Channel

XLOOKUP is also available in the Office Online version of Excel

What is a Monthly Channel

  • Monthly Channel – Provide users with the newest features of Office as soon as they’re available.
  • Semi Annual Channel – Provide users with new features of Office only a few times a year. Every six months, in January and July
  • more details here

How to get XLOOKUP if I’m not on Monthly Channel

Yes, you can use XLOOKUP in Office Online Excel application. To access the XLOOKUP function in the Office Online version go to https://www.office.com/launch/excel and click on the “New blank workbook” button. This only works for Office 365 subscribers

Once a new Excel Worksheet opens in your browser, type in =XLOOKUP to check if you have the XLOOKUP formula

Can I open Office Online files in the Excel Desktop application

You can use the XLOOKUP formula in the Office Online version and even save the file into an xlsx file. If you open the file in the desktop application and you don’t have the function released in your version, you would still see the result of the function until you have to edit any of the cells. The function will not update in your desktop application.

This is how it would look in the Office Online version.

And this is how it looks in the Excel desktop program. Notice that Excel adds _xlfn. in fronto of the XLOOKUP function

However, once you recalculate the function, it stops working in the desktop application

You can go back to the Office online application and it will work again.

Learn more about XLOOKUP

Once again, this is only if you are on the Semi-Annual Channel and you don’t get the release of XLOOKUP in the Desktop Excel application until July. You can still usu it in the meantime in the Office Online application.

If you want to learn more about why XLOOKUP is a great replacement for the VLOOKUP, check out the following posts while you wait:

If you want a quick overview of XLOOKUP, watch this video.