How do I download and add fuzzy Lookup in Excel?

  • #2

I have just installed it on MS 365 so I would be very surprised if it doesn't work in 2019.
You should see a Fuzzy Lookup Tab close to the far right.

The Power Query version has the advantage of allowing you to have a helper table / transformation table, which you add in as an extra table where you can put additional items the query can use on to match on.

On the downside and I think this is really disappointing, it does not allow you to output the "Similarity %" which the AddIn does do.

How do I download and add fuzzy Lookup in Excel?

  • #3

I have just installed it on MS 365 so I would be very surprised if it doesn't work in 2019.
You should see a Fuzzy Lookup Tab close to the far right.

The Power Query version has the advantage of allowing you to have a helper table / transformation table, which you add in as an extra table where you can put additional items the query can use on to match on.

On the downside and I think this is really disappointing, it does not allow you to output the "Similarity %" which the AddIn does do.

View attachment 42875

Thanks Alex.

Yeah, I've read it works in M365 but can't seem to get it to work in 2019, nor can I find any resources online which confirm how I might be able to do this. To be fair, other than the MS link above, I can't see find anything that says it doesn't work in 2019 either - hence this post!

  • #4

Are you by any chance using a work machine, in that case you may need to get your IT to install it for you ?

  • #5

Are you by any chance using a work machine, in that case you may need to get your IT to install it for you ?

Yes, I am. But I've already got them to install it.... Watched them do it, and they didn't appear to have to select any options on install which would cause problems.

Before I raise it with them for investigation, I wanted to confirm if it wold actually work on 2019, as the MS page doesn't state this specifically....

How do I download and add fuzzy Lookup in Excel?

Fluff

MrExcel MVP, Moderator

  • #7

It may need to be unblocked. If you goto the folder that contains the add-in, then right click the file & if the option is there click Unblock

  • #8

When I installed it, I needed to close Excel and then re-open it for it to appear on the ribbon. Then all was well.

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  3. Excel 2020: Use the Fuzzy Lookup Tool from Microsoft Labs

August 19, 2020 - by Bill Jelen

How do I download and add fuzzy Lookup in Excel?

When you use VLOOKUP, HLOOKUP, or INDEX/MATCH, Excel is expecting an exact match. But in real life, data is messy. Several years ago, the research team at Microsoft Labs released a free Fuzzy Lookup add-in. The functionality was never added to Excel, but later showed up in SQL Server. However, the free tool is still available from https://mrx.cl/fuzzylookup

Download and install the add-in. The last step of the install process lets you open the install folder where you will you will find a ReadMe document and a sample Excel file.

Open the sample file. On the Fuzzy Lookup tab, choose Fuzzy Lookup. In the panel that opens, choose the Left Table, the Right Table, and the columns in common.


How do I download and add fuzzy Lookup in Excel?

Optionally, choose that you want to see the best 2 or best N matches. Although it is more work, I always ask for at least two matches because Fuzzy Matches are never perfect.

How do I download and add fuzzy Lookup in Excel?

Here are the results. Note if you had asked for only 1 match, you would not see the choice between Coca-Cola Company and Coca-Cola Enterprises. Also - beware of Fuzzy Match algorithms: ATT Corp and ITT Corporation are very similar and could be reported as a match. Someone should always review the matches to determine if they are accurate.

How do I download and add fuzzy Lookup in Excel?

Title Photo: Dayne Topkin at Unsplash.com


This article is an excerpt from MrExcel 2020 - Seeing Excel Clearly.



How do I download and add fuzzy Lookup in Excel?

Bill Jelen is the author / co-author of:
MrExcel 2022 Boosting Excel

The 6th Edition of MrExcel XL, updated with new functions released for Microsoft 365.

How do I enable Fuzzy Lookup in Excel?

Uninstall any previous versions of Fuzzy Lookup Add-In for Excel..
Run Setup.exe to install the add-in per-user..
Save Setup.exe, right-click Setup.exe and Run As Administrator..

Where is fuzzy Lookup Excel 365?

Fuzzy Lookup has been added to the Office 365 version of Excel. You can access it from the Merge dialog box ( Data tab , Get Data , Combine Queries , Merge ) and clicking on “Use fuzzy matching to perform the merge” .

Is Fuzzy Lookup available for Mac?

Fuzzy Lookup is a great tool for several different scenarios in search marketing, with one of its most common use cases being for site migrations.

How do I do a fuzzy Lookup in Google Sheets?

Simply select the necessary cells in your sheet..
Then, open the tool by going to Extensions > Find Fuzzy Matches > Start in the Google Sheets menu:.
Adjust the search settings to set aside the values that you don't need to see in the results:.
You will see all the found typos grouped by value..