Use Find and Replace to swap text throughout your sheet

Google Sheets has a Find and Replace tool that searches for specific text and swaps it with something else in one action. You can replace a single instance, all instances in a sheet, or all instances across every sheet in your file. The tool works the same way whether you are replacing a word, a number, a formula, or part of a cell's content.

The fastest way to open Find and Replace is to press Ctrl+H on Windows or Cmd+H on Mac. A dialog box will appear with two text fields: one for what you want to find, and one for what you want to replace it with.

Key Takeaways

  • Press Ctrl+H (Windows) or Cmd+H (Mac) to open Find and Replace in Google Sheets.
  • Type the text you want to find in the first field and the replacement text in the second field, then click Replace All to change every instance at once.
  • Use "Match entire cell contents" if you want to replace only cells that contain exactly that text and nothing else.
  • Enable "Match case" if the capitalization matters — for example, to replace "john" but not "John".
  • You can undo any replacement by pressing Ctrl+Z when ready after, even if you replaced hundreds of instances.

Step-by-step: replacing text in one sheet

Open your Google Sheet and press Ctrl+H (Windows) or Cmd+H (Mac). The Find and Replace dialog will appear on the right side of your screen.

In the "Find" field, type the exact text you want to search for. In the "Replace with" field, type what you want it to become. For example, if you are correcting a misspelling across a list of names, you might find "Micheal" and replace it with "Michael".

Before you click Replace All, check the dropdown that says "All sheets" and change it to the name of the current sheet if you only want to replace text in this one sheet. If you want the replacement to happen everywhere in your file, leave it set to "All sheets".

Click the Replace All button. Google Sheets will show you how many replacements it made. If you made a mistake, press Ctrl+Z when ready to undo the entire operation.

Using options to make replacements more precise

The Find and Replace dialog has three checkboxes that change how the search works. The first is Match case, which means Google Sheets will only find text that matches the capitalization you typed. If you search for "apple" with Match case on, it will not find "Apple" or "APPLE". This is useful when you need to replace a specific version of a word but leave others alone.

The second option is Match entire cell contents. Turn this on if the cell must contain exactly what you typed and nothing else. For example, if you search for "yes" without this option, it will find "yes", "yes!", and "maybe yes". With this option on, it will only find cells that say exactly "yes".

The third option is Search using regular expressions. This is for advanced users who know regex syntax. Regular expressions let you search for patterns instead of exact text — for example, you could find any cell that contains a number followed by a space followed by a word. Most users will not need this.

Replacing part of a cell's content

Find and Replace works on partial text too. If a column contains email addresses like "john.smith@company.com" and you want to change the domain to "newcompany.com", you can find "@company.com" and replace it with "@newcompany.com". Every matching instance will be updated, even if the rest of the cell's content is different.

This is also how you remove text. If you want to delete a word or character from cells, leave the "Replace with" field empty and click Replace All. For example, find "$" and replace it with nothing to strip dollar signs from a column of prices.

Replacing formulas and special characters

Find and Replace treats formulas the same way it treats regular text. If you have a column of cells that all start with the formula =SUM( and you want to change them to =AVERAGE(, you can find "=SUM(" and replace it with "=AVERAGE(". Google Sheets will update the formulas in every matching cell.

You can also search for special characters like line breaks, tabs, or spaces. In the Find and Replace dialog, click the three dots menu next to the Find field and select "More options". This reveals an additional field where you can search for special characters using codes. For example, \n represents a line break. Most users will not need this feature, but it is available if you are working with complex text.

What to do if you replace the wrong thing

If you click Replace All and realize you made a mistake, press Ctrl+Z (Windows) or Cmd+Z (Mac) when ready. This will undo the entire replacement operation, even if it changed hundreds of cells. Google Sheets keeps a full undo history, so you can undo multiple times if needed.

If you have already closed the file or waited too long, you may not be able to undo. In that case, check the version history. Click "File" at the top, then "Version history", then "See version history". Google Sheets keeps older versions of your file for 30 days, and you can restore any earlier version by clicking on it and then clicking "Restore this version".

Replacing text in a specific range instead of the whole sheet

If you only want to replace text in certain cells, select those cells first before opening Find and Replace. Highlight the range you want to search by clicking and dragging, or by clicking one cell and then holding Shift while clicking another. Then press Ctrl+H to open Find and Replace. The search will only happen in the cells you selected.

This is useful when you have similar text in different parts of your sheet and you only want to change one section. For example, if two columns both contain product codes and you only want to update the codes in one column, select that column first, then use Find and Replace.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I replace text in only some cells, not all of them?

Yes. Click "Replace" instead of "Replace All" to replace one instance at a time. Google Sheets will highlight the first match and show you a "Replace" button. Click it to replace just that one, then click "Replace" again for the next match, or click "Replace All" to replace all remaining matches at once.

What if I want to replace text only in cells that match a pattern, like all cells starting with a number?

Use regular expressions. Click the three dots menu in Find and Replace, check "Search using regular expressions", then use regex syntax in the Find field. For example, ^[0-9] finds cells that start with a number. This requires knowledge of regex syntax.

Does Find and Replace work on cell formatting, like bold or color?

No. Find and Replace only searches for text content and formulas, not formatting. If you need to change formatting across many cells, select them and use the toolbar buttons or the Format menu instead.

Can I replace text in a shared Google Sheet without affecting other people's work?

Yes. When you use Find and Replace, it creates a single edit in the file's history, just like typing. Other people working on the sheet at the same time will see the changes appear, but you are not locking them out or interrupting their work. If you are worried about making a large change, consider telling collaborators first.

What happens if I search for something that does not exist in the sheet?

Google Sheets will show a message saying "No matches found" and nothing will be replaced. This is helpful because it tells you the text you are looking for is not in the sheet, so you can check your spelling or try a different search term.