What Is An Excel Helper Column?

What is an Excel Helper Column?

An Excel helper column is an extra column added to the data only for simplifying some calculations or analyses.

A helper column is often used in Excel sheets to get complex formulas simplified.

Helper Column Example: Multiple Criteria Vlookup

Here I have a table of some employees. I want to get the salary of Rahul who is a Sr. Analyst.

I can do it in one VLOOKUP formula but what it will be easy to if I have a helper column.

In the table, I add a helper column that concatenates Name and Designation and then use it as a lookup column.

Helper Columns are often used in Excel Charts to add special features.

You can see the examples of helper columns in charts here.

So yeah guys, this was a short introduction to helper column and this is all it worths. I hope it was explanatory. If you have any doubts regarding this article or any other Excel VBA related topics, ask in the comments section below.

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