FIND and SEARCH in Google Sheets - Step-by-Step Guide

Introduction

FIND and SEARCH help you locate where a specific word or letter appears inside a text. They tell you the position number of the first match. This is useful when you want to extract or check parts of text in your spreadsheet.

When you want to find the position of a word inside a sentence to extract it later.

When you need to check if a certain letter or word exists in a cell and where it starts.

When you want to split text based on where a character like a comma or space appears.

When you want to compare text parts by locating specific characters.

When you want to clean or organize data by finding patterns inside text.

Steps

Step 1: Click

- a blank cell where you want the result

The cell is selected and ready for input

Step 2: Type

- the formula bar

Formula is entered but not yet executed

💡 Start formulas with an equal sign (=)

Step 3: Type

- formula bar

Formula shows the position of the search text

💡 For FIND, type: =FIND("text_to_find", A1) where A1 has your text

Step 4: Press

- Enter key

Cell shows the number where the text starts inside the target cell

Step 5: Repeat

- for SEARCH function

SEARCH works like FIND but ignores uppercase or lowercase differences

💡 Type: =SEARCH("text_to_find", A1)

Before vs After

Before

Cell A1 contains the text: "Hello World"

After

Using =FIND("W", A1) returns 7 because W is the 7th character

Settings Reference

Case sensitivity

📍 Function choice: FIND or SEARCH

Choose if you want to match exact letter case or ignore it

Default: FIND is case sensitive

Start position

📍 Third argument in FIND or SEARCH formula

Set where to start looking inside the text

Default: 1

Common Mistakes

Using FIND when you want to ignore letter case

FIND is case sensitive and will not find 'w' if you search for 'W'

Use SEARCH instead to find text regardless of uppercase or lowercase

Not putting the text to find inside quotes

Google Sheets treats unquoted text as a cell reference or error

Always put the text you want to find inside double quotes, like "text"

Searching for text that does not exist without handling errors

FIND and SEARCH return an error if text is not found, which breaks formulas

Use IFERROR to handle missing text, e.g. =IFERROR(FIND("x", A1), "Not found")

Summary

FIND and SEARCH locate the position of text inside another text.

FIND is case sensitive; SEARCH ignores case differences.

Both return the starting position number or an error if not found.