When there is a large number of Excel spreadsheets in a folder that need to uniformly modify keywords, opening the files one by one and using find and replace is not only time-consuming but also prone to omissions. This article uses HeSoft Doc Batch Tool as an example to demonstrate how to batch find and replace cell text in multiple Excel files, such as replacing Mandatory with Voluntary and 46060 with 888888. The tutorial includes a comparison of the effects before and after processing, file importing, replacement rule settings, saving and processing precautions, suitable for office scenarios that need to batch maintain spreadsheet data such as xlsx, xls, xlsm, etc.
In daily office work, Excel spreadsheets are often used to store data such as lists, product catalogs, statistical reports, and project ledgers. If you only need to modify a small amount of content in one workbook, you can directly use Excel's built-in find and replace feature. However, if the same keyword is scattered across many Excel files—for example, multiple xlsx spreadsheets need a certain status, code, area code, product name, or department name to be uniformly replaced—manual processing becomes very inefficient.
The problem this article aims to solve is: how to batch find and replace keywords in many Excel spreadsheet files at once. In the example, we need to replace the text "Mandatory" in Excel cells with "Voluntary," and simultaneously replace "46060" with "888888." With software designed for batch processing of office files, such as HeSoft Doc Batch Tool , you can import multiple Excel files at once, set unified find-and-replace rules, and then execute them in a batch, reducing the time spent on repeatedly opening, copying, pasting, and saving files.
Applicable Scenarios: When is it appropriate to batch replace Excel keywords?
Batch finding and replacing Excel content is suitable for all scenarios where multiple spreadsheets require unified revisions. For example, the HR department needs to change employee status from an old name to a new one, accounting staff need to uniformly replace project codes, operations staff need to replace old brand names in product lists with new ones, and data organizers need to uniformly adjust fields like area codes, classification numbers, hospital types, and customer levels in reports.
If you only have one or two files, manual processing is not a big issue; but when the number of files reaches dozens or hundreds, or each workbook contains multiple sheets, manual operation faces three obvious risks: first, it's easy to miss some files; second, it's easy to only replace content in some worksheets or cells; third, other content might be accidentally changed during repeated saves. Using specialized office software to batch process files can transform the task of "opening files individually" into "setting rules once for automatic processing," making it more suitable for standardized, highly repetitive office tasks.
In terms of file formats, common Excel files include xlsx, xls, xlsm, xltx, etc. In practice, it is recommended to first confirm whether the files to be processed are in Excel formats supported by the software, and to back up the original files before processing, especially when involving important content such as customer data, medical lists, financial ledgers, and project data.
Effect Preview: Keyword Status in the Excel Spreadsheet Before Processing
The image below shows the Excel spreadsheet before processing. As you can see, there are many instances of "Mandatory" under the "Mandatory or Voluntary Participation" field in column A, and multiple instances of "46060" in the "CBSA" field in column D. If this content appeared in only one file, you could find and replace it manually; but if similar data is distributed across multiple Excel files, manually opening each file and replacing items one by one is very time-consuming.
The data characteristics in the example are typical: the keywords needing replacement do not appear just once, but repeatedly in the same column or multiple locations; furthermore, there is more than one keyword to replace. This means the task is not simply changing one word to another, but establishing a set of correspondences: replacing "Mandatory" with "Voluntary," and "46060" with "888888." This is precisely the type of scenario that batch find-and-replace tools are designed to handle.
Effect Preview: Excel Keywords After Processing Have Been Replaced
After processing is complete, opening the Excel file again shows that the original "Mandatory" in column A has become "Voluntary," and the original "46060" in column D has become "888888." The screenshots also intuitively show the area that has been processed, making it easy to verify the replacement results.
The advantage of this processing method is that the replacement rules only need to be set once and can then be applied to multiple imported Excel files. For office workers who need to uniformly adjust key fields, this is more stable than performing find-and-replace file by file and makes it easier to form a reusable operational process.
Operation Step 1: Enter the Excel Tool and Select the Find and Replace Function
After opening HeSoft Doc Batch Tool , select "Excel Tools" from the tool categories on the left. In the tool list, you can see the "Find and Replace Keywords in Excel" function, described as batch finding and replacing keywords in Excel file content. The product positioning here is clear: it is not simply software for editing a single spreadsheet, but a tool geared towards batch processing of office files, with the core value being reducing repetitive work and improving batch file processing efficiency.
After clicking this function, you enter the batch processing workflow. For first-time users, it helps to understand the logic of this process: first select the Excel files to process, then set the find-and-replace rules and processing scope, then set the save location, and finally start processing. This avoids problems arising from unclear rules, wrong file selection, or confusing save paths when modifying files directly.
Operation Step 2: Add the Excel Files to Be Batch Processed
After entering the "Find and Replace Keywords in Excel" feature page, the first step is to select the records to be processed. The upper right area of the interface provides operation entries such as "Add Files," "Import Files from Folder," "Clear," and "More." According to the example screenshot, three xlsx files have been imported, including product_list.xlsx, team-participant-list.xlsx, and test.xlsx, with file paths located in the D:\test folder.
If your Excel files are scattered, you can use "Add Files" to select them individually; if many spreadsheets are in the same folder, using "Import Files from Folder" is more efficient. After importing, the list will display information like sequence number, name, path, extension, creation time, and modification time, allowing you to check if you have selected the correct files. After confirming the files are correct, click "Next" at the bottom to proceed to the processing options settings.
Here it is recommended to do two things before continuing: first, confirm that the imported files are indeed the Excel spreadsheets to be batch processed, and don't mix irrelevant spreadsheets into the task; second, if the files are important, keep original backups first. The characteristic of batch processing is that it acts on multiple files at once, so the more thorough the preliminary confirmation, the less worry later.
Operation Step 3: Set Excel Processing Scope and Cell Type
After entering the second step, "Set Processing Options," you need to determine the processing scope first. In the screenshot, the "Processing Scope" area has "Cell Text" checked, indicating this find-and-replace operation mainly targets text content within Excel cells. The interface also shows options like "Worksheet Sheet Name" and "Text on Shapes in Worksheet," but the example scenario only requires replacing keywords in spreadsheet cells, so checking "Cell Text" is sufficient.
Next are the settings for cell formula type and data type. In the screenshot, "Cell Formula Type to be Processed" is set to "No Restriction," meaning it does not limit whether cells contain formulas; "Processing Method for Cells Containing Formulas" is set to "Calculated Value of Formula"; and "Cell Data Type to be Processed" has "Text" checked. The purpose of these settings is to make the software identify the content to be replaced as expected, avoiding mistakenly including data types that should not be processed into the replacement scope.
If your keywords are plain text, such as department names, product names, status values, city names, etc., selecting the text type is usually sufficient. If you need to replace content like code numbers, such as "46060" in the example, you also need to note whether it exists as text or a number in Excel. The settings in the screenshot are biased towards finding and replacing as text, so before processing, confirm the storage format of the target data in the spreadsheet.
Operation Step 4: Fill in the Find Keywords and Replace With Keywords
In the "Set Keyword Options" area, you can set the search method and keyword correspondences. The screenshot shows "Exact Text Search" is selected. Below, on the left is the "List of Keywords to Find," and on the right is the "List of Keywords After Replacement." In the example, the first row on the left is "Mandatory," and the first row on the right is "Voluntary"; the second row on the left is "46060," and the second row on the right is "888888."
This left-right corresponding list is very suitable for handling multiple sets of replacement rules at once. You can think of it as a mapping table: the content to find in the first row corresponds to the replacement content in the first row, the content to find in the second row corresponds to the replacement content in the second row. As long as the row numbers correspond correctly, the software will batch process the imported Excel files according to this set of rules.
When filling in, pay special attention to spaces, capitalization, and complete text. Since the example uses "Exact Text Search," if the target cell has extra spaces, or the actual keyword writing is inconsistent with the input content, it might result in no match. For instance, "Mandatory" and "Mandatory " might be treated as different content in exact matching. Therefore, before formal processing, it is recommended to copy the target keyword from the original Excel and paste it into the software to reduce manual input errors.
Operation Step 5: Continue to Set Save Location and Start Processing
After completing the keyword list settings, click "Next" at the bottom. According to the process bar at the top of the page, the subsequent steps will go to "Set Save Location" and "Start Processing." Although the screenshot does not show the specific options of the save location page, the process name clearly indicates that the software will allow users to set the save location for processed files before starting processing.
When batch replacing Excel keywords, the save location is very important. It is recommended not to directly overwrite the only original file, especially for the first-time processing or when there are many rules. You can choose to output to a new folder. This way, even if you find the replacement rules need adjustment, you can process again from the original files without affecting the source data. After confirming the save location, proceed to "Start Processing" and wait for the software to execute the tasks in batch.
After processing is complete, open the output Excel files for spot-checking. It is recommended to check at least a few positions: have all target keywords been replaced; has content that should not be replaced remained unchanged; have processing results been generated for all files; and are the file format and worksheet structure normal? The result shown in the example indicates that "Mandatory" has been replaced with "Voluntary" and "46060" has been replaced with "888888," confirming that the rules took effect as expected.
Common Questions and Notes
1. Why were some keywords not replaced? Common reasons are that the search content does not exactly match the actual content in the cell, for example, due to extra spaces, different capitalization, inclusion of line breaks, or the data type not being covered by the current settings. Pay special attention to exact text matches when using exact search.
2. Can multiple sets of keywords be replaced at once? As seen in the screenshot, the keyword list supports multiple corresponding rows. The example set two sets of replacement rules simultaneously: Mandatory to Voluntary, and 46060 to 888888. When filling in, ensure a one-to-one correspondence row-by-row between the left and right sides.
3. Will batch replacement affect formulas? The screenshot provides settings related to formulas, such as cell formula type and the handling method for cells containing formulas. During actual processing, you should choose carefully based on your spreadsheet structure. If the file has complex formulas, it is recommended to test with a backup file first.
4. Can both xlsx and xls files be processed? The example imported xlsx files. For other Excel formats like xls and xlsm, it is recommended to refer to the software's actual support capabilities and test with a small number of sample files before batch processing.
5. Do Excel files need to be closed first? When batch processing office files, it is generally recommended to close the target Excel files currently being edited first, to avoid processing failures or save errors caused by the file being occupied.
Summary: Using Batch Processing Tools to Replace Repeatedly Opening Excel
When you need to batch find and replace keywords in many Excel spreadsheets, manually opening files one by one for modification is not only inefficient but also prone to omissions. Through HeSoft Doc Batch Tool , you can first import multiple xlsx files, then set the cell text scope, search method, and multiple sets of replacement rules, and finally uniformly output the processing results.
For office users who frequently handle reports, lists, ledgers, rosters, and product data, this method of batch replacing Excel keywords can significantly reduce repetitive work. It is recommended to back up files before formal processing, verify rules with a small sample, and execute the batch only after confirmation is correct. This ensures both efficiency and reduces the risk of data modification errors.