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Finding Text
When translating in Excel, you often need to find or replace text. To find a particular word or expression within an Excel file you can either
- press CTRL + F, or
- from the Edit menu choose the Find option.
In the dialogue box that opens, enter in the Search for field the word, term or sequence of words you want to search for.
- You can press Find all to get a list of all cells where the word or sequence of words appears, specifying also the respective workbook and worksheet.
- Alternatively, you can press Find next to go directly to each cell that contains the search expression.
If you want to specify further search criteria, such as where you want to search - workbooks or worksheets, columns or rows, formulas, values or comments - or whether capitals should be considered or not, click the Options button and define the parameters for your search.
Replacing Text
To replace text, press CTRL + H or follow the steps described above for the find function. Once in the Find dialogue box, click the Replace tab. An additional field called Replace with will appear. Here you type the new expression that should replace the existing expression.
Again you have several options.
- Replace all allows you to replace the search word or sequence of words in all cells where it appears.
- Replace allows you to replace the search expression step by step.
- You can also first find all expressions in their contexts, by clicking Find all or Find next, and then decide if you want to replace them.
Note: Keep in mind that when you choose the option Replace all for a specific term, this will be replaced everywhere in the document - even if it is part of other terms. To avoid this, chose the form of the term form you want to replace carefully.
Why is this information important for translators and translation teachers?
To know how to find and replace text in an Excel file is very useful for translators who, for example, realise when proofreading a translation that they used a wrong term and want to replace it everywhere within a worksheet or workbook without wasting time doing it manually.