Please Note: This article is written for users of the following Microsoft Excel versions: 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, and 2021. 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: Limiting Searching to a Column.

Limiting Searching to a Column

Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated August 28, 2025)
This tip applies to Excel 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, and 2021


1

As your worksheets start to contain more and more data, you'll find yourself often searching for information in the collected data. Most people do this by pressing Ctrl+F to display the Find tab of the Find and Replace dialog box. From here you can do a search of the entire worksheet.

If you want to limit your search, however, there is one key thing you need to do: Select the range you want to search before pressing Ctrl+F. For instance, if you want to limit your search to a specific column of the worksheet, select that column before displaying the Find tab of the Find and Replace dialog box. When the search is actually performed, only those cells in the selected range are included in the search; everything else is ignored.

ExcelTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Excel training. This tip (10004) applies to Microsoft Excel 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, and 2021. You can find a version of this tip for the older menu interface of Excel here: Limiting Searching to a Column.

Author Bio

Allen Wyatt

With more than 50 non-fiction books and numerous magazine articles to his credit, Allen Wyatt is an internationally recognized author. He is president of Sharon Parq Associates, a computer and publishing services company. ...

MORE FROM ALLEN

Absolutely Getting Rid of Formatting

Need to get rid of the formatting applied to a bunch of text? One of the easiest ways to do this is to use Notepad in ...

Discover More

Seeing Where Bookmarks Are

Bookmarks can be great for referencing and finding portions of your document. If you want to easily see where the ...

Discover More

Getting Rid of Spaces in Cells

Importing data into Excel that was generated in other programs can have some interesting side effects. For instance, you ...

Discover More

Best-Selling VBA Tutorial for Beginners Take your Excel knowledge to the next level. With a little background in VBA programming, you can go well beyond basic spreadsheets and functions. Use macros to reduce errors, save time, and integrate with other Microsoft applications. Fully updated for the latest version of Office 365. Check out Microsoft 365 Excel VBA Programming For Dummies today!

More ExcelTips (ribbon)

Counting the Results of a Formula Using Find and Replace

Need to get a count of a particular result from a formula? You can use Find and Replace (as described in this tip), but ...

Discover More

Inconsistent Behavior of Find and Replace Dialog Box

The Find and Replace feature in Excel is one of the workhorse editing tools you can use. When the Find and Replace dialog ...

Discover More

Replacing Only Whole Words in Excel

Excel's Find and Replace capabilities are handy, but they aren't as full-featured as those in Word. One shortcoming is ...

Discover More
Subscribe

FREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in ExcelTips, a free productivity newsletter. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."

View most recent newsletter.

Comments

If you would like to add an image to your comment (not an avatar, but an image to help in making the point of your comment), include the characters [{fig}] (all 7 characters, in the sequence shown) in your comment text. You’ll be prompted to upload your image when you submit the comment. Maximum image size is 6Mpixels. Images larger than 600px wide or 1000px tall will be reduced. Up to three images may be included in a comment. All images are subject to review. Commenting privileges may be curtailed if inappropriate images are posted.

What is 1 + 8?

2025-08-29 12:46:27

MarkB

Unless I click Find All and the search includes a word that is also in another column, then it jumps right out of the selected column


This Site

Got a version of Excel that uses the ribbon interface (Excel 2007 or later)? This site is for you! If you use an earlier version of Excel, visit our ExcelTips site focusing on the menu interface.

Newest Tips
Subscribe

FREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in ExcelTips, a free productivity newsletter. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."

(Your e-mail address is not shared with anyone, ever.)

View the most recent newsletter.