# Microsoft Office Application Help - Excel Help forum > Excel General >  >  Find (Ctrl + F) and Replace Not Working

## snolem75

I have been experiencing a very frustrating problem with excel's Ctrl+f.... I cannot find #'s anymore, only text....  I can't find values even when they are in view on the sheet and I type the exact value I'm looking at... I have tried ALL combinations of options in the Ctrl+F box....

Anybody else ever experience this problem, and how did you fix it?!?

Thanks in advance for you help!

Cheers and have a nice weekend  :Smilie: 

-Snolem-

----------


## FDibbins

Hi and welcome to the forum  :Smilie: 

when you press CTRL F, select the options and see whats seleced in the 3 options there, as well and make sure both "match case" and "match entire contents" are not selected.

Under the 3 options, I have...
Sheet
By rows
Formulas (you might want tp change this to values)

----------


## snolem75

Thank you for your quick reply!  Unfortunately, I have gone through all of those options and the find feature is still not working to find numbers that I know exist because I'm looking at them on my screen trying to get the find feature to work.

Anybody else?

Thanks again!  :Smilie:

----------


## FDibbins

can you upload a sample work book, (all sensitive data removed), showing what data you are working with, a few examples of what you are searching for
To attach a file to your post, 
click advanced (next to quick post), 
scroll down until you see "manage file", 
click that and select "add files" (top right corner). 
click "select files" find your file, click "open" click "upload" click 'done" bottom right. click "submit reply"

Once the upload is completed the file name will appear below the input boxes in this window. 
You can then close the window to return to the new post screen.

----------


## snolem75

Thanks again!  :Smilie: ...  Attached you'll find a file and two screen shots of my searches performed both by values and in formulas without finding the result that is I know to be there because I'm looking at it...

Cheers!  :Smilie: 

Values.jpgMatch Formulas.jpg

----------


## Lemice

Hello,

You are trying to find the value in a formula. 

What you can do is, when you press Ctrl-F, check on "Match entire cell contents", and most importantly, under "Look in", instead of "Formula", choose "Values".

----------


## snolem75

Thanks for the awesomely quick response Lemice!  :Smilie: 

Unfortunatley, I have tried every iteration of options possible... Attached is the screenshot of your suggested options, but to no avail  :Frown: ...

Any other ideas!?!

Thanks again guys  :Smilie: 


Match Entire Cell Contents.jpg

----------


## Lemice

For some reason I have to enter exactly 61,397.00, and uncheck "Match entire cells only", only by then it shows up ...

This is weird, maybe it's just Excel being Excel.

----------


## snolem75

Good to know... This is strange, but at least I now have a work-around  :Smilie: 

Cheers to you Lem and everyone else for helping!  :Smilie:

----------


## SENTHILVELAN

Hello ,

        Kindly check the attached file screen shot . I hope this should be helpful for you. if this is the root cause means

----------


## venkatap26

Hi sir,

this is praveen from vijayawada i have problem find & replace option in excel 2010,i am finding repeated one word but only once find then cursor is go through excel sheet not find another word please help sir
thanks & regads
ch v praveeen

----------


## AliGW

Unfortunately _your post does not comply with Rule 2 of our Forum_ RULES. *Do not post a question in the thread of another member -- start your own thread.* 

If you feel an existing thread is particularly relevant to your need, provide a link to the other thread in your new thread. 

Old threads are often only monitored by the original participants.  New threads not only open you up to all possible participants again, they typically get faster response, too.

----------


## pi3volution

I have found that sometimes, you must search in the format of the cell.

In my experience, I did some cohort analysis calculating repeat % and when I try to remove all 0 values from the results, I had to search for '0%' instead of just 0 because the results were formatted in Percentage.

----------


## geselaw

I think this is a window bug. I have office 2016 installed both on my laptop(win10 home) and desktop (win7pro). Using the same workbook, find and replace work perfectly on my laptop but not on my desktop. The desktop was on office 2013 before and find and replace was not working. That was why I upgrade the desktop to office 2016 but still not working. So by elimination, I say it is win 7 issue. I hope this helps.

----------


## vanderpooldr

Hit CTRL+F, Options, Format, and ensure the Clear button is grayed out for every tab.    :Wink:

----------


## Fluff13

Try searching for 22,577.94

----------


## vanderpooldr

it works, just type CTRL+F - then 22577.94 --omit the comma

----------


## maresrob

Your clear tab worked perfectly....THANK YOU! :Smilie:  :Smilie:  :Smilie:

----------


## maresrob

Your Clear button solution worked perfectly. THANK YOU! :Smilie:  :Smilie:  :Smilie:

----------


## Ingri

Hello, 

When I click ctr+f, it highlights the sheet itself, how do I change it to values?

Thank you, 
Ingrida

----------


## AliGW

*Administrative Note:*

Welcome to the forum.  :Smilie: 

We are happy to help, however whilst you feel your request is similar to this thread, experience has shown that things soon get confusing when answers refer to particular cells/ranges/sheets which are unique to your post and not relevant to the original.

Please see Forum Rule #4 about hijacking and start a new thread for your query.

If you are not familiar with how to start a new thread see the FAQ: How to start a new thread

----------


## maresrob

> Hello, 
> 
> When I click ctr+f, it highlights the sheet itself, how do I change it to values?
> 
> Thank you, 
> Ingrida



Control f does find control a selects all

----------


## WisconsinElle

This happens to me and I think I finally found a workaround.  For whatever reason, if you type the what you're searching for anywhere on the page, "Find All" is able to find all of the options (not just the new one you typed)

Good luck! This finally helped me from a very aggravating project.  (Especially because I was closing the program after every search, which helped as well).

----------


## zakazano

> Hit CTRL+F, Options, Format, and ensure the Clear button is grayed out for every tab.



Thank you!! This had been driving me nuts!

----------


## BryanBecker

Works like a charm.

Thanks so much!

----------


## josephteh

Ali, now I understand why Forum Rule #4 is so important.. this whole thread is all jumbled up!

----------


## SanjiVinsmoke

Here is what I would recommend you to do , check that your search options are set to look in Values, not Formulas. Make sure you don't have multiple cells selected (otherwise, Search will only look in selected cells). Make sure "Match whole cell" isn't selected.  I hope this helps! Cheers!

----------


## Master of Mayhem

[QUOTE=WisconsinElle;5315894]This happens to me and I think I finally found a workaround.  For whatever reason, if you type the what you're searching for anywhere on the page, "Find All" is able to find all of the options (not just the new one you typed)

Nothing else here mentioned worked until I found your post. It took me a minute to decipher what you were saying but when I selected all and searched for a different word outside my original selection "Find" started working again. When I returned to my selection and original search phrase it also worked. Thanks very much.

----------

