Tip of the week # 497
30 October 2016

Find and select all cells that contain a formula (Microsoft Excel) ^*

Have you ever wondered where the formulas are in your workbook? Perhaps you've inherited a file and don't have a clue what they've done. Or you haven't looked at the data for a while and would like a quick way to spot all the cells that contain a formula.

Here's how:

1. Press F5.
2. Click on the Special button.
3. Click on the Formulas radio button.
4. Click OK or press ENTER.

If the workbook does not contain formulas you will see the message "No cells were found." If it does, all cells will be highlighted, ready to be protected from being modified. But let's make that the content of a future tip. (With thanks to Erica Adarve for inspiring me to write this tip!)

By the way, you might want to have another look at tip_478.php which explains how you can use the Go To Special functionality to find hidden rows and columns in your worksheet.

^* Unless stated otherwise, these tips were written for Microsoft Office 2010.