Index Match doesn't get the credit it deserves anymore. That's the honest take after reading a recent post from a user who, after three years of relying exclusively on XLOOKUP, hit a wall and had to fall back on the older formula pair. His discovery, that Index Match is "really good", isn't just a personal win. It's a practical reminder that the tools we move past often still hold real power, especially when the newer ones fail.
What's striking about his experience is how common it is. XLOOKUP is faster to write and easier to read, which makes it the default for most modern spreadsheet work. But it's not invincible. It can stumble when your lookup column isn't the first column in your range, or when you need to search left of the return column. Index Match doesn't share those limitations because it separates the lookup and return arrays. That flexibility isn't a relic, it's a safeguard. For anyone building complex models or working with messy data, knowing both formulas isn't about nostalgia. It's about having a backup that works when the elegant solution doesn't.
The broader lesson here is about how we learn and what we choose to invest time in. The user's post shows humility, he assumed XLOOKUP would cover every scenario, and it didn't. That's not a knock on the tool. It's a reminder that no single formula is a silver bullet. The most productive spreadsheet users aren't the ones who know the newest function; they're the ones who understand the logic underneath. Index Match teaches you how lookups actually work, how to think in terms of row and column positions rather than just "find this value." That mental model carries over to more advanced techniques like dynamic arrays and nested lookups.
So here's what this means in practice: if you've only ever used XLOOKUP, take an afternoon to learn Index Match. Not because it's better in every case, but because it will make you a more capable problem-solver when the edge cases show up. The user who shared his story didn't abandon XLOOKUP, he added Index Match to his toolkit. That's the right move. Master both, and you won't have to hope your preferred formula never fails. You'll already know what to do when it does.