Press Ctrl + H to open Find and Replace on the Replace tab. Type the old text in Find what and the new text in Replace with, then press Alt + A for Replace All, or Alt + R to replace one match at a time.
Press Ctrl + F to open the same dialog on the Find tab. After you close it, Shift + F4 jumps to the next match without reopening it.
Inside the dialog, Tab moves between the boxes and buttons, and Ctrl + Page Down or Ctrl + Page Up switches between the Find and Replace tabs. On a laptop without Page Up and Page Down keys, that is usually Ctrl + Fn + Down Arrow or Up Arrow.
Replace All changes the whole sheet unless you select a range first, in which case it changes only that range. To search every sheet, click Options and set Within to Workbook. * and ? act as wildcards, so type ~* to find a real asterisk.
The thing that silently goes wrong is partial matches. Replacing 0 with nothing also turns 10 into 1, and it edits formulas that contain a 0 as well. Click Options and tick Match entire cell contents before you replace. Those options stay set until you close Excel, so if Find later says it can’t find a value that is clearly there, check them first. Ctrl + Z undoes a Replace All.
Latest Video Tutorial – 10 Excel Keyboard Shortcuts (Probably YOU are NOT Using)
To open the Find and Replace option, you can use the keyboard shortcut key Ctrl + H. It shows you the dialog box to enter the value to find and the value to replace, and as there are multiple buttons for the options, you can use Tab to navigate to all those buttons.
Ctrl + H
And if you want to open the Find dialog box only, you can use the shortcut key Control + F. Both tabs (Find & Replace) are in the same dialog box, and you can switch to the other using Ctrl + Page Up or Ctrl + Page Down (on many laptops, Control + Function Key + the up and down navigation buttons) or Ctrl + Tab.
Shortcuts Inside the Find and Replace Dialog Box
- Alt + F: Find Next.
- Alt + I: Find All.
- Alt + R: Replace the current match.
- Alt + A: Replace All.
- Alt + T: show or hide the Options (Within, Search, Look in, Match case, Match entire cell contents).
- Esc: close the dialog box.
After you close the dialog box, press Shift + F4 to find the next match of the last value you searched for, without opening the dialog box again. On a Mac, use Command + F to find and Control + H to replace.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do I replace only in the selected cells?
Select the range first and then press Ctrl + H. When you have more than one cell selected, Excel searches and replaces only in that selection.
How do I find an asterisk or a question mark?
Put a tilde (~) before it, like ~* or ~?, because * and ? are wildcards in Find and Replace.
Can I undo Replace All?
Yes, press Ctrl + Z right after it. Excel undoes all the replacements made by Replace All in one step.