How to vlookup when there is different formatting?

I am trying to vlookup using a telephone number as the lookup value, i have the table in a separate tab. For example, this is what i would see when do the formula. Phone number - Name (999) 999 - 9999 - N/A (888) 888 - 8888 N/A The source table Phone number - Name 9999999999 - Joe Blow 8888888888 - Jane Blow So i want the vlookup to show the names in the first section, but as you can see, the phone number formatting is different, is it possible to vlookup this so that it can pull the names although the formatting is different? I can change it manually, but i would have to do it 600+ times for all these users. I tried changing the format by right clicking and formatting cells, while the formatting changes and it becomes the same, if you look into the fx bar, the formatting remains the same prior. So although the cell would show (999) 999-9999, the fx bar still shows 999999999 and wont pull. Anyway around this? Thanks