XLOOKUP vs VLOOKUP: Automate Email Reports

Nothing is worse than spending hours creating a report, only to have to manually send it to your team via email. Imagine you have a dataset of 5,000 Sales IDs, and you need to send a customized report to each sales representative. By the end of this post, you will be able to automate this process using Excel VBA and the XLOOKUP function.

Scenario-Based Example

Imagine you have a dataset of 5,000 Sales IDs, and you need to send a customized report to each sales representative. You can use the XLOOKUP function to lookup the sales data and the VBA Outlook integration to send the reports via email.

Using XLOOKUP with VBA

To automate the email report process, you can use the following code:

Sub SendEmailReports()
    Dim ws As Worksheet
    Set ws = ThisWorkbook.Worksheets("SalesData")
    
    Dim lastRow As Long
    lastRow = ws.Cells(ws.Rows.Count, "A").End(xlUp).Row
    
    Dim i As Long
    For i = 2 To lastRow
        Dim salesID As String
        salesID = ws.Cells(i, 1).Value
        
        Dim salesData As String
        salesData = XLOOKUP(salesID, ws.Range("A:B"), 2, "Not Found")
        
        ' Send email using VBA Outlook integration
        Dim olApp As Object
        Set olApp = CreateObject("Outlook.Application")
        
        Dim olMail As Object
        Set olMail = olApp.CreateItem(0)
        
        olMail.To = "sales@example.com"
        olMail.Subject = "Sales Report for " & salesID
        olMail.Body = "Sales Data: " & salesData
        
        olMail.Send
    Next i
End Sub

Common Mistakes

• Forgetting to set the worksheet object: Set ws = ThisWorkbook.Worksheets("SalesData")
• Not handling errors: On Error Resume Next

Real-World Example

Suppose you have the following sales data:

When Things Go Wrong

• Error 1004: Method 'Range' of object '_Worksheet' failed: This error occurs when the worksheet object is not set correctly. Make sure to set the worksheet object using Set ws = ThisWorkbook.Worksheets("SalesData").
• Error 91: Object variable or With block variable not set: This error occurs when the Outlook application object is not set correctly. Make sure to set the Outlook application object using Set olApp = CreateObject("Outlook.Application").
• Error 424: Object required: This error occurs when the email object is not set correctly. Make sure to set the email object using Set olMail = olApp.CreateItem(0).

To troubleshoot these errors, you can use the DEBUG function to step through your code and identify the source of the error. You can also use the ERROR function to handle errors and exceptions.

Stop fighting with syntax. Generate this formula instantly with our tool: Use the Excel Formula Generator