Wednesday, November 30, 2016

Find and Replace dialog box options

Find and Replace dialog box options

Use the options on the following tabs in the Find and Replace dialog box to search for and optionally replace a string of characters with another string of characters.

In this article

Find tab options

Replace tab options

Find tab options

Use the Find tab to search for a string of characters in a worksheet or workbook.

  • Find what    Enter the information that you want to search for. You can use wildcard characters, such as an asterisk (*) or a question mark (?), in your search criteria.

    For example, you can do the following:

    • Use the asterisk to find any string of characters. For example, s*d finds "sad" and "started".

    • Use the question mark to find any single character. For example, s?t finds "sat" and "set".

    • You can find asterisks, question marks, and tilde characters (~) in worksheet data by preceding them with a tilde character (~) in the Find what box. For example, to find data that contains "?", type ~? as your search criteria.

    • To find symbols and special characters that you entered, you can copy them from the worksheet into the Find what box.

      For more information about how to use symbols and special characters in the worksheet, see Insert symbols and special characters on a worksheet.

  • Format     Allows you to search for text or numbers that also have specific formatting. If you want to find cells that just match a specific format, you can delete any criteria in the Find what box and then select a specific cell format as an example. Click the arrow next to Format, click Choose Format From Cell, and then click the cell that has the formatting that you want to search for.

  • Options     Displays advanced search options. This button changes to Options << when the advanced options are displayed. Click Options << to hide the advanced options.

  • Within     Select Sheet to restrict your search to the active worksheet. Select Workbook to search all sheets in the active workbook.

  • Search     Click the direction that you want to search: down through columns by using By columns or to the right across rows by using By rows. To search up in columns or to the left across rows, hold down SHIFT and then click Find Next. In most cases, it is faster to select By columns.

  • Look in     Specifies whether you want to search the value of the cells or their underlying formulas. For instance, a cell could appear on the worksheet as "11" but actually contain a formula ="1"&"1". A search that uses the Look in: Values option finds this cell when you search for "11". A search that uses the Look in: Formulas option does not find the cell. You can also include comments that are attached to cells in the search by using the Look in: Comments option . On the Replace tab, Look in: Formulas is the only option.

  • Match case     Distinguishes between uppercase and lowercase characters.

  • Match entire cell contents     Searches for an exact and complete match of characters that are specified in the Find what box.

  • Find All     Finds all occurrences of the search criteria in your worksheet or workbook. If you want to find and review each occurrence separately, click Find Next instead of Find All.

  • Find Next     Searches for the next occurrence of the characters that are specified in the Find what box. To find the previous occurrence, hold down SHIFT and then click Find Next.

  • Close     Closes the Find and Replace dialog box after you have completed your search.

Tip: Microsoft Office Excel saves the formatting options that you define. If you search the worksheet for data again and cannot find characters that you know to be there, you may need to clear the formatting options from the previous search. On the Find tab, click Options to display the formatting options, click the arrow next to Format, and then click Clear Find Format.

Top of Page

Replace tab options

The Replace tab has the same options as the Find tab, with the following additional options that you can use to replace the data that you search for.

  • Replace with     Type the replacement characters that you want to use to replace the characters in the Find what box. To delete the characters in the Find what box from your document, leave the Replace with box blank.

    Tip: To replace text with symbols and special characters, you can copy them from the worksheet into the Replace with box. For more information about how to use symbols and special characters in the worksheet, see Insert symbols and special characters on a worksheet.

  • Replace All     Replaces all occurrences of the search criteria in your document. If you want to review and selectively replace each occurrence, click Replace instead of Replace All.

  • Replace     Replaces the selected occurrence of the criteria in the Find what box, finds the next occurrence, and then stops. If you want to automatically replace all occurrences of the search criteria in your document, click Replace All.

Top of Page

No comments:

Post a Comment