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'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 🙂