Page 84 - Excel Workbook for Dummies

08_798452 ch04.qxp 3/13/06 7:36 PM Page 67
Chapter 4: Modifying the Spreadsheet 67

1. Open the Find and Replace dialog box with the Find tab selected (Ctrl+F) and
then enter 25? in Find What text box. Continue to select the Find Next button to
locate all the matches in the Find, Replace & Spell worksheet, and Excel returns
the cell cursor to the cell with the first match.
You can use the wildcard characters, ? (question mark) or * (asterisk), to stand
for missing characters in the search text. Note that Excel considers the 2500
entered in cells A2, D2, and D5 as matches but not the 2500 that’s displayed in
cell A7. This is because the 2500 in cell A7 is the calculated result of the formula
=A5+A6 and not a static value entered on the Formula bar.
2. Click the Options button to display the search options and then select Values on
the Look In drop-down list, and then select the Find All button to display the
locations of all the cells with matching entries.
This time, Excel considers the 2500 calculated in A7 as well as those entered into
cells A2 and D5 as matches. However, when Values is set as the Look In search
option, the program no longer considers the $2,500.00 in D2 with its Currency
Style number formatting as a match.
3. Select Comments in the Look In drop-down list and then select the Find Next
button.
Excel jumps the cell cursor to cell C12 in the spreadsheet.
4. Position the mouse pointer over cell C12 and verify that the comment attached
to this cell contains the value 25.
5. Modify the search text in the Find What text box slightly by adding a comma
between the 2 and the 5 so that this text box now contains 2,5?. Now select
Values in the Look In drop-down list again before you select the Find All button.
Now, Excel considers only the $2,500.00 in D2 as a match, as none of the other
2500s have a comma between the 2 and 5 as these entries appear in the cells of
the Find, Replace & Spell worksheet.
6. Modify the search text in the Find What text box again by prefacing 500 with a
question mark wildcard character so that this text box now contains ?500. Then,
select the Find All button.
This time, Excel includes all the cells containing 2500 (including the $2,500.00 in
cell D2) as matches as well as the 1500 entered into cell A6.

7. Select the Match Entire Cell Contents check box under Find search options
before you select the Find All button.
When the Match Entire Cell Contents check box is selected, the $2,500.00 in cell
D2 is no longer considered to be a match because of the decimal point and two
zeros that trail the 500 (the question mark wildcard only pertains to characters
that precede 500).
8. Select the Replace tab in the Find and Replace dialog box and then set up the fol-
lowing conditions:
• Position the cell cursor in cell A1 of the Find, Replace & Spell worksheet.
• Enter 25 in the Find What text box on the Replace tab.
• Enter 27 in the Replace With text box on the Replace tab.
• Deselect the Match Entire Contents check box on the Replace tab.
9. Use the Find and Replace feature to change the date May 25, 2005 in cell A17 to
May 27, 2005.
Select the Find Next button until you locate the occurrence of the search text (25
in this case) that you want to replace and then (and only then) select the
Replace button.