Excel find or replace does not work

Question

I can't get excel to find anything in any workbook or sheet. When I use the good ol' Find from Home, Find & Select all I get is:

"We coudn't find what you were looking for. Click Options for more ways to search." And I can't find any way to search that works. I can make a new workbook and put 'the' in cell A2 then ctrl-f and look for 'the' and get the above response. I must have a really buggered up option somewhere but can't find it. I found a bit about "point to FIlter" in the Home ribbon but that didn't help.

Is this a uninstall/install kind of problem?

Any suggestions?

Happy Trails

Answer 1

Hi Punchcard Steve. I am an Excel user like you.

Start with these things to check (see screenshot below):

1. Make sure that the format box says "No "Format Set". If it says anything else, click on the Format drop-down and choose "Clear Find Format". I could duplicate your result if I added a format here.
2. Click on Options and make sure that the checkboxes for Match case and Match entire cell contents are NOT checked.
3. Make sure the other options are correct--Sheet, By Rows, Formulas or if looking for values from a formula, change to Values.
4. Make sure that there is not another group of cells selected because if a group of cells is selected Excel will only search the selected cells.

Reply if you have additional questions or information. Please mark this reply as answered if this solves your question.

Rich~M

Answer 2

Hi Punchcard S!

Thank you for writing to the Microsoft Answer Community Forum. I am Shakiru, an independent advisor and a user like you, and I am glad to be helping you out today.

I understand you are having an issue with the Find and Replace features in Excel.

I'm sorry, do you mean if you click on Home > Editing > Find & Select > Find, you can not find the "Find" feature? what about when you use the Ctrl+F keyboard shortcuts does it display the Find and replace function?

Please check this link below on how to use the Find and Replace features, it also contains the tips to avoid when using the 'Find' and 'Replace' features: https://support.microsoft.com/office/0e304ca5-ecef-4808-b90f-fdb42f892e90

If the issue persists, please repair the Microsoft Office: Repair Microsoft Office online again Please check here:https://support.microsoft.com/office/7821d4b6-7c1d-4205-aa0e-a6b40c5bb88b

Kindly let me know, if you require additional assistance, I will be glad to help further.

Kind Regards, Shakiru