Let's say you want to ensure that a column contains text and not numbers or you want to find all orders by a particular salesperson. There are several ways to check if a cell contains text but the case of the text doesn't matter to you.

You can also use a filter to find text. For more information, see .What do you want to do?

Find cells that contain text

  1. Select the range of cells that you want to search.

    If you want to search the entire worksheet, click any cell.

  2. On the Home tab, in the Editing group, click Find & Select, and then click Find.
  3. In the Find what box, enter the text or numbers that you want to search for or choose a recent search from the Find what drop-down box.

    Note You can use wildcard characters in your search criteria.

  4. If you want to specify a format for your search, click Format and make your selections in the Find Format dialog box.

  5. Click Options to further define your search. For example, you can search for all of the cells that contain the same kind of data, such as formulas.

    In the Within box, you can select Home or Workbook to search a worksheet or an entire workbook.

  6. Click Find All or Find Next.

    Find All lists every occurrence of the item that you are searching for and allows you to make a cell active by selecting a specific occurrence. You can sort the results of a Find All search by clicking a header.

Note To cancel a search in progress, press ESC.

Check if a cell has any text in it

To do this task, use the ISTEXT function.

Example

The example may be easier to understand if you copy it to a blank worksheet.

How to copy an example

  1. Create a blank workbook or worksheet.
  2. Select the example in the Help topic.

    Note Do not select the row or column headers.

    selecting an example from helpSelecting an example from Help

  3. Press CTRL+C.
  4. In the worksheet, select cell A1, and press CTRL+V.
  5. To switch between viewing the results and viewing the formulas that return the results, press CTRL+` (grave accent), or on the Formulas tab, in the Formula Auditing group, click the Show Formulas button.
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A
Data
Davolio
123
Formula Description
=ISTEXT(A2) Checks to see if cell A2 has text (TRUE)
=ISTEXT(A3) Checks to see if cell A3 has text (FALSE)

Function details

Check if a cell matches specific text

To do this task, use the IF function. The IF function returns results that you specify based on a condition.

Example

The example may be easier to understand if you copy it to a blank worksheet.

How to copy an example

  1. Create a blank workbook or worksheet.
  2. Select the example in the Help topic.

    Note Do not select the row or column headers.

    selecting an example from helpSelecting an example from Help

  3. Press CTRL+C.
  4. In the worksheet, select cell A1, and press CTRL+V.
  5. To switch between viewing the results and viewing the formulas that return the results, press CTRL+` (grave accent), or on the Formulas tab, in the Formula Auditing group, click the Show Formulas button.
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2
A
Data
Davolio
Formula Description
=IF(a2="davolio","OK", "Not OK") Checks to see if A2 is Davolio (OK)
=IF(a2="buchanan", TRUE, FALSE) Checks to see if A2 is Buchanan (FALSE)

Function details

Check if part of a cell matches specific text

To do this task, use the IF, SEARCH and ISNUMBER functions.

Note The SEARCH function is case-insensitive.

Example

The example may be easier to understand if you copy it to a blank worksheet.

How to copy an example

  1. Create a blank workbook or worksheet.
  2. Select the example in the Help topic.

    Note Do not select the row or column headers.

    selecting an example from helpSelecting an example from Help

  3. Press CTRL+C.
  4. In the worksheet, select cell A1, and press CTRL+V.
  5. To switch between viewing the results and viewing the formulas that return the results, press CTRL+` (grave accent), or on the Formulas tab, in the Formula Auditing group, click the Show Formulas button.
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3
A
Data
Davolio
BD123
Formula Description (Result)
=IF(ISNUMBER(SEARCH("v",A2)),"OK", "Not OK") Checks to see if A2 contain the letter v (OK)
=ISNUMBER(SEARCH("BD",A3)) Checks to see if A3 contains BD (TRUE)

Function details