Forum Discussion
Search and Replace Destroys All Formatting?!
Hello, All. I am shocked by this "Search and Replace" behavior. In a new spreadsheet, 1. Type "This is a test" in a cell. 2. Italicize the word "test". 3. Save the file. 4. Search a...
I just ran into the the same thing today - but on Windows. As you said in a reply, it is a surprisingly obvious bug to get out in the first place; but to still be unfixed a year after being reported is not a good impression for Microsoft.
I'm afraid this is something that Microsoft would call "By design". Search and replace has never retained the formatting of the individual characters in a cell. If you would like the Excel team to change that behavior, you can go to the Help tab, click the feedback button and then click the "I have a suggestion" button.
- Given it changes the formatting for words and characters that were not involved in the replace, it does seem like it would be a rather strange intentional design choice though. Imho, it feels like a pretty obvious bug. Regardless, I suppose only the Excel team know for sure - thank you for the tip on how to provide more direct feedback!
- I would not count on the Excel team knowing the why, this is very, very ancient behavior of Excel. It probably goes back to when S&R was introduced way back when 🙂