Please Note: This article is written for users of the following Microsoft Excel versions: 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, and Excel in Microsoft 365. If you are using an earlier version (Excel 2003 or earlier), this tip may not work for you. For a version of this tip written specifically for earlier versions of Excel, click here: A Fast Find-Next.
Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated April 25, 2022)
This tip applies to Excel 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, and Excel in Microsoft 365
You already know how to find information in an Excel worksheet by using the searching features built into the program. Using the Find tool (press Ctrl+F) you can search for just about anything in your worksheet. I find myself using Find quite often in the course of editing a worksheet, particularly if the worksheet is quite large.
There is one thing about Find that bothers me, however. I hate having the Find and Replace dialog box block part of my worksheet as I am stepping through occurrences of a search string. Clicking on Find Next works great, but that bothersome dialog box is still blocking my view.
To overcome this, I generally do the following when I am searching for something:
This procedure works the same as clicking Find Next repeatedly, and it is just as fast, but it gets rid of the annoying Find dialog box.
ExcelTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Excel training. This tip (3426) applies to Microsoft Excel 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, and Excel in Microsoft 365. You can find a version of this tip for the older menu interface of Excel here: A Fast Find-Next.
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2022-04-25 08:19:49
JD Murphy
Hiding the Find dialog box.
This tip, or something very similar, was featured before and I found it to be one of the best tips ever ... until it stopped working ... probably after an update. This version caused me to spread out the metaphorical welcome mat, but imagine my disappointment when it failed to work. Nihil desperandum - I poked a few more key combinations and Eureka! Fn+F4 works. combining this with the Shift key brings you to the previous instance of the target. Many thanks.
2022-04-25 08:19:24
KV
And if you press Ctrl+Shift+F4 it searches in the reverse direction too! :-)
This is a HUGE time-saver I discovered in one of the ...for Dummies books on Excel or MS-Office many years ago.
2018-06-18 05:19:19
Courtheyn Joel
As far as I have verified, pressing F4 would be sufficient.
see : https://support.office.com/en-us/article/keyboard-shortcuts-in-excel-for-windows-1798d9d5-842a-42b8-9c99-9b7213f0040f
2018-06-16 08:33:02
JD Murphy
The Find and Replace dialog box disappears.
To find the next occurrence, I press Shift+F4 but nothing happens.
It used to before installation of latest version.
JD Murphy
2018-06-16 06:30:32
Pieter de la Court
Thank you for this incredibly time and nuisance saving tip!
It also works in MS Word.
I wish I had known this years ago.
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Please Note:
This article is written for users of the following Microsoft Excel versions: 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, and Excel in Microsoft 365. If you are using an earlier version (Excel 2003 or earlier), this tip may not work for you. For a version of this tip written specifically for earlier versions of Excel, click here:
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