Find and replace values within a sheet

Open find and replace

To use find and replace, open the sheet that you want to work in and press Ctrl + F (Windows) or Cmd + F (Mac) to open the find and replace window.

You can select multiple columns, rows, or cells before using the keyboard shortcut to find and replace values in only that portion of the sheet. To use find and replace on the entire sheet, make sure only one cell (or no cells) are selected before opening the window.

To find values:

1. Type the value you'd like to search for in the Find field.
2. Click Next or Previous to navigate to the next or previous instance of that value.

To replace values:

1. Type the value you'd like to replace in the Find field.
2. Type the value you'd like to replace it with in the Replace with field.
3. Do either of the following:
   1. Select Next or Previous, and then select Replace, to replace the values one at a time.
   2. Select Replace All to replace all of the values in the sheet or selection with your Replace with value.

Exceptions with find and replace behavior

If your sheet contains matching values in hidden columns or filtered rows, those won't be replaced; instead, you will receive a message stating that matching values exist in the hidden rows. If you want to replace those values, you'll need to unhide the columns or remove the filter and re-display the rows.

You can replace values in any cell for which you have permission to edit except for the following:

• Cells containing formulas
• Cells in Symbols columns that use Boolean values (checkbox, star, or flag)
• Any cell in the End Date column of a dependency-enabled project sheet
• Any cell in the Start Date column of a dependency-enabled project sheet if driven by a predecessor
• Cells containing hyperlinks and inbound cell links.

Tips and best practices for find and replace

Find and replace values in a Contact List column to easily re-assign tasks from one person to another. The found values will match the name or email address used in the Find what field. For example, if you search for sally.smart@smartsheet.com, any name in a Contact List column that is associated with the email address sally.smart@smartsheet.com will be found.

You can also use find and replace with most values in the Symbols columns (exceptions noted above are checkbox, star, or flag values). Select the drop-down arrow in any cell in a Symbols column to see the text values associated with each symbol. For example, you can find the value Yellow and replace it with Green (include the matching capitalization) to change all Yellow status balls to Green.