Using Find & Replace

When working with a lot of data in Excel, it can be difficult and time
consuming to locate specific information. You can easily search your workbook
using the Find feature, which also allows you to modify content using the
Replace feature.

To find content:
In our example, we'll use the Find command to locate a specific department in
this list.
From the Home tab, click the Find and Select command, then select Find from
the drop-down menu.

The Find and Replace dialog box will appear. Enter the content you want to
find. In our example, we'll type the department's name.
Click Find Next. If the content is found, the cell containing that content will
be selected.
Click Find Next to find further instances or Find All to see every instance of the
search term.

When you are finished, click Close to exit the Find and Replace dialog box.
You can also access the Find command by pressing Ctrl+F on your keyboard.

Click Options to see advanced search criteria in the Find and Replace dialog
box.
To replace cell content:
At times, you may discover that you've repeatedly made a mistake throughout
your workbook (such as misspelling someone's name) or that you need to
exchange a particular word or phrase for another. You can use Excel's Find and
Replace feature to make quick revisions. In our example, we'll use Find and
Replace to correct a list of department names.
From the Home tab, click the Find and Select command, then select Replace
from the drop-down menu.

The Find and Replace dialog box will appear. Type the text you want to find in
the Find what: field.

Type the text you want to replace it with in the Replace with: field, then
click Find Next.

If the content is found, the cell containing that content will be selected.
Review the text to make sure you want to replace it.
If you want to replace it, select one of the replace options. Choosing Replace
will replace individual instances, while Replace All will replace every instance
of the text throughout the workbook. In our example, we'll choose this option to
save time.

A dialog box will appear, confirming the number of replacements made.

Click OK to continue.

The selected cell content will be replaced.

When you are finished, click Close to exit the Find and Replace dialog box.
Generally, it's best to avoid using Replace All because it doesn't give you the
option of skipping anything you don't want to change. You should only use this
option if you're absolutely sure it won't replace anything you didn't intend it to.
 Checking Spelling
Before sharing a workbook, you'll want to make sure it doesn't include any
spelling errors. Fortunately, Excel includes a Spell Check tool you can use to
make sure everything in your workbook is spelled correctly.

If you've used the Spell Check feature in Microsoft Word, just be aware that the
Spell Check tool in Excel, while helpful, is not as powerful. For example, it
won't check for grammar issues or check spelling as you type.

To use Spell Check:

From the Review tab, click the Spelling command.

The Spelling dialog box will appear. For each spelling error in your worksheet,
Spell Check will try to offer suggestions for the correct spelling. Choose a
suggestion, then click Change to correct the error.
A dialog box will appear after reviewing all spelling errors. Click OK to close
Spell Check.

If there are no appropriate suggestions, you can also enter the correct spelling
manually.

Ignoring spelling "errors"

Spell Check isn't always correct. It will sometimes mark certain words as
incorrect even if they're spelled correctly. This often happens with names,
which may not be in the dictionary. You can choose not to change a spelling
"error" using one of the following three options:

Ignore Once: This will skip the word without changing it.

Ignore All: This will skip the word without changing it and also skip all other
instances of the word in your worksheet.

Add: This adds the word to the dictionary so it will never appear as an error
again. Make sure the word is spelled correctly before choosing this option.
 Page Layout and Printing
There may be times when you want to print a workbook to view and share
your data offline. Once you've chosen your page layout settings, it's easy to
preview and print a workbook from Excel using the Print pane.

To access the Print pane:

Select the File tab. Backstage view will appear.

Select Print. The Print pane will appear.

Click the buttons in the interactive below to learn more about using the Print
pane.
To print a workbook:
Navigate to the Print pane, then select the desired printer.
Enter the number of copies you want to print.
Select any additional settings if needed (see above interactive).

Click Print.
Choosing a print area
Before you print an Excel workbook, it's important to decide exactly what
information you want to print. For example, if you have multiple worksheets in
your workbook, you will need to decide if you want to print
the entire workbook or only active worksheets. There may also be times when
you want to print only a selection of content from your workbook.

To print active sheets:

Worksheets are considered active when selected.
Select the worksheet you want to print. To print multiple worksheets, click the
first worksheet, hold the Ctrl key on your keyboard, then click any other
worksheets you want to select.

Navigate to the Print pane.

Select Print Active Sheets from the Print Range drop-down menu.

Click the Print button.

To print the entire workbook:

Navigate to the Print pane.
Select Print Entire Workbook from the Print Range drop-down menu.
Click the Print button.

To print a selection:
In our example, we'll print the records for the top 40 salespeople on the Central
worksheet.
Select the cells you want to print.

Navigate to the Print pane.

Select Print Selection from the Print Range drop-down menu.
A preview of your selection will appear in the Preview pane.
Click the Print button to print the selection.

If you prefer, you can also set the print area in advance so you'll be able to
visualize which cells will be printed as you work in Excel. Simply select the
cells you want to print, click the Page Layout tab, select the Print
Area command, then choose Set Print Area. Keep in mind that if you ever
need to print the entire workbook, you'll need to clear the print area.

Adjusting content

On occasion, you may need to make small adjustments from the Print pane to
fit your workbook content neatly onto a printed page. The Print pane includes
several tools to help fit and scale your content, such
as scaling and page margins.

To change page orientation:

Excel offers two – page orientation options: landscape and portrait. Landscape
orients the page horizontally, while portrait orients the page vertically. In our
example, we'll set the page orientation to landscape. Navigate to the Print pane.

Select the desired orientation from the Page Orientation drop-down menu. In
our example, we'll select Landscape Orientation.

The new page orientation will be displayed in the Preview pane.

To fit content before printing:

If some of your content is being cut off by the printer, you can use scaling to fit
your workbook to the page automatically.

Navigate to the Print pane. In our example, we can see in the Preview pane that
our content will be cut off when printed.

Select the desired option from the Scaling drop-down menu. In our example,
we'll select Fit All Columns on One Page.
The worksheet will be condensed to fit onto a single page.

Keep in mind that worksheets will become more difficult to read as they are
scaled down, so you may not want to use this option when printing a worksheet
with a lot of information. In our example, we'll change the scaling setting back
to No Scaling.

To include Print Titles:

If your worksheet uses title headings, it's important to include these headings
on each page of your printed worksheet. It would be difficult to read a printed
workbook if the title headings appeared only on the first page. The Print
Titles command allows you to select specific rows and columns to appear on
each page.

Click the Page Layout tab on the Ribbon, then select the Print
Titles command.
The Page Setup dialog box will appear. From here, you can
choose rows or columns to repeat on each page. In our example, we'll repeat a
row first.

Click the Collapse Dialog button next to the Rows to repeat at top: field.

The cursor will become a small selection arrow, and the Page Setup dialog
box will be collapsed. Select the row(s) you want to repeat at the top of each
printed page. In our example, we'll select row 1.

Row 1 will be added to the Rows to repeat at top: field. Click the Collapse
Dialog button again.
The Page Setup dialog box will expand. To repeat a column as well, use the
same process shown in steps 4 and 5. In our example, we've selected to repeat
row 1 and column A.

When you're satisfied with your selections, click OK.

In our example, row 1 appears at the top of every page, and column A appears
at the left of every page.

To adjust page breaks:

Click the Page Break Preview command to change to Page Break view.
Vertical and horizontal blue dotted lines denote the page breaks. Click and drag
one of these lines to adjust that page break.

In our example, we've set the horizontal page break between rows 21 and 22.
In our example, all the pages now show the same number of rows due to the
change in the page break.

To modify margins in the Preview pane:

A margin is the space between your content and the edge of the page.
Sometimes you may need to adjust the margins to make your data fit more
comfortably. You can modify page margins from the Print pane.

Navigate to the Print pane.

Select the desired margin size from the Page Margins drop-down menu. In our
example, we'll select Narrow Margins.
The new page margins will be displayed in the Preview pane.
You can adjust the margins manually by clicking the Show Margins button in
the lower-right corner, then dragging the margin markers in the Preview pane.