Find and replace in Excel - Step-by-Step Guide

Introduction

Find and replace helps you quickly locate specific text or numbers in your spreadsheet and change them all at once. This saves time when you need to fix mistakes or update data without searching cell by cell.

When you want to correct a misspelled word throughout your sheet, like changing 'Jhon' to 'John'.

When you need to update a product code that has changed in many rows.

When you want to replace all instances of a date format from 'MM/DD/YYYY' to 'DD/MM/YYYY'.

When you want to remove extra spaces by finding double spaces and replacing them with single spaces.

When you want to quickly change all occurrences of a placeholder text like 'TBD' to actual values.

Steps

Step 1: Click

- Home tab, Editing group, Find & Select button

A menu appears with options including Find and Replace

Step 2: Select

- Replace from the Find & Select menu

The Find and Replace dialog box opens with two input boxes: Find what and Replace with

Step 3: Type

- Find what box

The text or number you want to find is entered

Step 4: Type

- Replace with box

The new text or number you want to use as replacement is entered

Step 5: Click

- Find Next button

Excel highlights the first cell that matches the Find what text

Step 6: Click

- Replace button

The highlighted cell's content changes to the Replace with text and the next match is highlighted

Step 7: Click

- Replace All button

All instances of the Find what text in the sheet are replaced at once, and a message shows how many replacements were made

Step 8: Click

- Close button

The Find and Replace dialog box closes

Before vs After

Before

Column A contains product codes like 'ABC123', 'ABC124', 'ABC125' and you want to update 'ABC' to 'XYZ'.

After

Column A now shows 'XYZ123', 'XYZ124', 'XYZ125' after replacing all 'ABC' with 'XYZ'.

Settings Reference

Match case

📍 Find and Replace dialog box, Options button

Makes the search match uppercase and lowercase letters exactly

Default: Unchecked

Match entire cell contents

📍 Find and Replace dialog box, Options button

Finds only cells where the whole cell matches the Find what text

Default: Unchecked

Within

📍 Find and Replace dialog box, Options button

Chooses whether to search only the current sheet or all sheets in the workbook

Default: Sheet

Search

📍 Find and Replace dialog box, Options button

Determines the order in which Excel searches cells

Default: By Rows

Common Mistakes

Not clicking Replace All when wanting to change all instances.

Only the first found instance changes, so others remain unchanged.

Click Replace All to update every matching cell at once.

Leaving Match case checked when you want to replace text regardless of letter case.

Excel will only find text that exactly matches the letter case, missing others.

Uncheck Match case to find and replace text regardless of uppercase or lowercase.

Typing partial text in Find what but expecting whole cell matches to change.

If Match entire cell contents is checked, partial matches won't be found.

Uncheck Match entire cell contents to find partial matches or type the full cell content.

Summary

Find and replace lets you quickly locate and change text or numbers in your spreadsheet.

You can replace one instance at a time or all at once using Replace or Replace All buttons.

Use options like Match case and Match entire cell contents to control how Excel searches.