Using excel 2003, the formula:

=VLOOKUP(D1 ,A1:B135, 2)

fails if the length of D1 exceeds 255 characters (i.e. the list has some text longer then 255 characters, D1 has the same text value, and VLOOKUP returns #VALUE!).

MATCH seems to suffer from the same character limit.

I cannot find any official confirmation of these limits, for example here:

http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/excel-help/vlookup-HP005209335.aspx

or here:

http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/excel-help/excel-specifications-and-limits-HP005199291.aspx?CTT=3

I know that excel has a 255 limit on the length of text used in formulae, but it suggests connate should work (it does not in this case, and I am not using strings in the formula, but referencing another cell).

Can somebody confirm that these limit exist (it is always possible I am doing something else wrong)?

More importantly, does anyone know of a way around them?

Thanks