Finding Text in Text Boxes in Excel

Excel is a powerful tool that can help you manage and analyze data in a variety of ways. One of the most useful features of Excel is the ability to add text boxes to your worksheets. Text boxes can be used to add notes, comments, or other information to your data. However, finding text in text boxes can be a challenge, especially if you have a large worksheet with many text boxes. In this article, we will explore some tips and tricks for finding text in text boxes in Excel.

Using the Find and Replace Function

The easiest way to find text in text boxes in Excel is to use the Find and Replace function. To do this, follow these steps:

1. Select the worksheet that contains the text boxes you want to search.
2. Press Ctrl+F to open the Find and Replace dialog box.
3. In the Find what box, type the text you want to find.
4. Click the Options button to expand the dialog box.
5. Click the Within drop-down list and select Sheet.
6. Click the Look in drop-down list and select Values.
7. Click the Find All button to display a list of all the cells that contain the text you are searching for.
8. Scroll through the list to find the text boxes that contain the text you are looking for.

Using VBA Code

If you are comfortable with VBA code, you can use it to find text in text boxes in Excel. Here is an example of VBA code that will search for text in all text boxes on a worksheet:

Sub FindTextInTextBoxes()

Dim shp As Shape

Dim strSearch As String

Dim strResult As String

strSearch = InputBox(“Enter the text you want to find:”)

For Each shp In ActiveSheet.Shapes

If shp.Type = msoTextBox Then

If InStr(1, shp.TextFrame.Characters.Text, strSearch, vbTextCompare) > 0 Then

strResult = strResult & shp.Name & vbCrLf

End If

End If

Next shp

If strResult = “” Then

MsgBox “Text not found.”

Else

MsgBox “Text found in the following text boxes:” & vbCrLf & strResult

End If

End Sub

To use this code, follow these steps:

1. Open the worksheet that contains the text boxes you want to search.
2. Press Alt+F11 to open the Visual Basic Editor.
3. Click Insert > Module.
4. Paste the code into the module.
5. Press F5 to run the code.
6. Enter the text you want to find in the input box.
7. Click OK.
8. The code will search for the text and display a message box with the names of the text boxes that contain the text.

Conclusion

Finding text in text boxes in Excel can be a challenge, but with the right tools and techniques, it can be done quickly and easily. Whether you prefer to use the Find and Replace function or VBA code, you can find the text you need and get back to analyzing your data.