When using the FIND function in Excel, you might encounter a situation where a word that is clearly in your spreadsheet cannot be found. One possible reason for this is that the Match case option is enabled. Match case is a feature within Excel which restricts the search to an EXACT match of uppercase and lowercase letters. So ‘AuditExcel’ is seen as different to ‘AUDITEXCEL’.
Table of contents
YouTube: FIND not working – Word casing different
Check the Match case setting
In the image below, you can see that we are searching for ‘LUKE’, all in uppercase letters, but the names in the spreadsheet are in mixed case. Since Match case is selected, Excel is only looking for ‘LUKE‘ in all uppercase and is unable to find ‘Luke’.
Disable Match case to find all variations
To fix this, open the Find and Replace window (Ctrl + F) and type ‘LUKE’ in the search box. Uncheck the Match case option as shown below.
Tips and troubleshooting
- Ensure that the Look in setting is set to Values or Formulas, not Notes, if the search isn’t returning expected results.
- Try using the Find All option instead of Find Next to get a full list of matching results in your spreadsheet.