Please Note: This article is written for users of the following Microsoft Excel versions: 2007, 2010, 2013, and 2016. 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: Changing Multiple Cells at Once.
David has several non-adjacent cells that each contains the same formula. He needs to change the formula in all the cells to something else. He knows he can change the formula in one of the cells and then copy the formula to the other cells, but he's wondering if there is a way to change the formula in all the cells at the same time, without the need to do the copy/paste operation.
If you want to retype the formula from scratch, Excel actually provides a shortcut to do this: Ctrl+Enter. All you need to do is create a selection set of the cells you want to edit. (Selection sets are created by clicking on a single cell then, as you hold down the Ctrl key, clicking on other cells you want included in the set.) Type the formula you want to appear in each cell in the set, then press Ctrl+Enter.
If you want to change an existing formula in the cells, simply create your selection set of those cells and then use Find and Replace to search for the formula you want to change. You can easily click on Replace All in the dialog box to change all the cells at once. (Remember—this approach will only work properly if the formulas in the cells are all exactly the same.)
ExcelTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Excel training. This tip (11924) applies to Microsoft Excel 2007, 2010, 2013, and 2016. You can find a version of this tip for the older menu interface of Excel here: Changing Multiple Cells at Once.
Excel Smarts for Beginners! Featuring the friendly and trusted For Dummies style, this popular guide shows beginners how to get up and running with Excel while also helping more experienced users get comfortable with the newest features. Check out Excel 2013 For Dummies today!
Excel allows you to edit your cell contents in two places. What if you want to limit where editing occurs, so it can only ...
Discover MoreNeed a quick way to jump to a particular part of your worksheet? You can do it by using the Go To dialog box.
Discover MoreExcel makes it easy to copy and paste a range of cells. Easy, that is, unless the range isn't contiguous. If you have a ...
Discover MoreFREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in ExcelTips, a free productivity newsletter. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."
2016-10-18 15:06:27
Mike
Thanks for the tip!
2016-10-17 11:58:03
Matt Gill
I want to create a two line graphs on the same page that represent the usage of 2 different SATCOM terminals over a 2 year period of time.
The data entry starts and stops at different intervals and more than one user can be on a terminal
Terminal 1
User1: 1 May 14 - 10 May 14
User2: 2 May 14 - 12 May 14
User4: 5 May 14 - 30 May 14
Terminal 2
User3: 15 May 14 - 4 July 14
User6: 25 May 14 - 05 June 14
User5: 7 May 14 - 3 June 14
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.
FREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in ExcelTips, a free productivity newsletter. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."
Copyright © 2020 Sharon Parq Associates, Inc.
Please Note:
This article is written for users of the following Microsoft Excel versions: 2007, 2010, 2013, and 2016. 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: 
Comments