When multiple Excel spreadsheets contain the same type of old name, old classification, or old warehouse information, opening the files one by one to find and replace is not only time-consuming but also prone to missing changes. This article uses an inventory table as an example to introduce how to use HeSoft Doc Batch Tool to batch search for keywords in multiple xlsx spreadsheets, replace them with new content, and highlight the replaced cells to facilitate reviewing the modification locations. It is suitable for scenarios such as administration, finance, warehousing, and operations that require batch maintenance of Excel data.
In daily office work, Excel spreadsheets are often not a single file but a batch of files: an inventory sheet for each store, a monthly statistical report, a list for each project. Whenever field names, category names, or warehouse names change, unified modifications are needed across a large number of Excel files. For example, changing "Stationery" in a spreadsheet to "Office supplies" in all instances, and then adjusting "Warehouse C" to "Warehouse B". If you manually open xlsx files one by one and use Excel's built-in find and replace function repeatedly, it is not only inefficient but also difficult to confirm which locations have already been modified.
This article addresses this exact problem: using the office software " HeSoft Doc Batch Tool ", to batch find and replace keywords in multiple Excel spreadsheet files, while simultaneously highlighting the replaced content. This allows for batch processing and also enables you to quickly see the modified locations when opening the result files, facilitating verification and delivery.
Applicable Scenarios: When is Batch Finding and Replacing Excel Keywords Suitable?
Batch finding and replacing Excel keywords with highlighting is particularly suited for office scenarios with similar data structures, a large number of files, and clear replacement rules. For instance, after a company's organizational structure is adjusted, old department names in multiple departmental reports need to be replaced with new ones; after warehouse or store codes are adjusted, old warehouse names in many inventory sheets need to be uniformly changed; when product classification criteria change, category fields scattered across multiple workbooks need to be standardized to new names.
Based on the example in the screenshot, the processing objects are a set of inventory list files with the xlsx extension. The spreadsheets contain fields such as Product ID, Product Name, Category, Status, and Location. Before processing, "Stationery" appears multiple times in the Category column, and "Warehouse C" is in the Location column. This content is scattered across different cells. If there are dozens or even hundreds of similar files, manual modification for each one would be very tedious.
The value of using HeSoft Doc Batch Tool lies in its ability to not just process a single open sheet, but to execute the same rules across a batch of Excel files, thereby reducing repetitive work. For users who need to process xlsx, xls, and similar Excel spreadsheet files, a batch tool significantly reduces the risk of omissions and errors.
Effect Preview: What Changes Occur Before and After Processing?
Before Processing: Keywords Scattered in Different Table Locations
In the inventory sheet before processing, "Stationery" appears multiple times in the Category column, and "Warehouse C" is in the Location column. The screenshot uses red boxes to mark the areas requiring replacement. You can see these cells are not a single continuous column but interspersed among different product records. While manual handling might be barely manageable for a single file, if there are multiple Excel files, searching through each one individually would waste a significant amount of time.
This pre-processing effect also illustrates a common difficulty: the content needing replacement might not be in the same row or the same column. What users truly need is not simple copy-paste, but for the software to automatically find specified keywords within the Excel content and replace them according to rules.
After Processing: Replaced Content is Highlighted for Easy Review
After processing, you can see that "Stationery" has changed to "Office supplies", and "Warehouse C" has changed to "Warehouse B". Simultaneously, the replaced cells are highlighted in yellow, allowing users to directly locate the modified positions upon opening the file. The significance of highlighting is crucial: after batch replacement is complete, you need to not just know the software executed an operation, but also be able to quickly confirm which cells were changed.
In practical office work, many batch replacement tasks require secondary verification. For documents like financial statements, inventory ledgers, and customer lists, high data accuracy is essential. Post-replacement highlighting allows reviewers to quickly browse the changed areas without having to re-execute a find command.
Steps: Using HeSoft Doc Batch Tool to Batch Replace Excel Content
Step 1: Enter the Excel Tool and Select Find and Replace Keywords in Excel
After opening HeSoft Doc Batch Tool , select "Excel Tools" from the function category on the left. The main interface displays multiple batch processing functions related to Excel files, such as format conversion, image export, and password protection. Based on this task's requirement, you need to select "Find and Replace Keywords in Excel". The description on that function card in the screenshot reads "Batch find and replace keywords in Excel file content", which aligns with the batch replacement problem this article aims to solve.
The purpose of this step is to enter the correct processing module. Because this software is a document batch processing office tool with many functions, selecting Excel Tools first and then entering the find and replace function helps avoid mistakenly using other conversion functions. Once inside this function, the software will guide the user through file selection, rule setting, save location, and starting the process via a wizard-style workflow.
Step 2: Add the Excel Files Needing Batch Processing
Once inside the "Find and Replace Keywords in Excel" function, the top of the interface shows several operation buttons, including "Add Files" and "Import Files from Folder". If you only need to process a few specified spreadsheets, you can use "Add Files"; if a batch of Excel files are all located in the same folder, using "Import Files from Folder" is more convenient.
The screenshot shows multiple records have been imported, with filenames like "Product Inventory List - Copy (2).xlsx", "Product Inventory List - Copy (3).xlsx", etc., using the xlsx extension. The list also displays information like file path, creation time, and modification time. Users can check this list to confirm if the files are fully imported, and can use the delete icon on the right to remove files that don't need processing.
The expected outcome of this step is: all Excel files requiring batch find and replace appear in the processing list. After confirming they are correct, click "Next" at the bottom to proceed to the replacement rule settings. For batch office tasks, file selection is a very critical step. It is recommended to place the xlsx or xls files to be processed into a single folder beforehand for easy one-time import and management.
Step 3: Set the Search Method and Replacement Keyword List
On the "Set Keyword Options" interface, you can set the search method, additional options, and the list of keywords to find and replace. The screenshot shows "Find exact text" is selected, meaning the software will match based on the entered text content. The interface also shows an option for "Fuzzy lookup using formulas", but this case uses exact search, which is suitable for scenarios with clear keywords and one-to-one replacement relationships.
In the left "Keywords to Find" list, enter the old content to be replaced. In the example, the first line is "Stationery", and the second line is "Warehouse C". In the right "Replace With Keywords" list, enter the corresponding new content: the first line is "Office supplies", and the second line is "Warehouse B". The left and right sides correspond by row, meaning the content found in the first row is replaced by the new content in the first row, and the content found in the second row is replaced by the new content in the second row.
Pay special attention to the correspondence in this step. Batch replacement often involves setting up multiple pairs of rules, not just replacing a single word. To avoid mismatches, it is recommended that users organize their replacement list in a spreadsheet or text file before copying it into the software. For example:
Old Content: Stationery, Corresponding New Content: Office supplies; Old Content: Warehouse C, Corresponding New Content: Warehouse B.
The screenshot shows "Ignore case" and "Match whole word only" are checked. For English spreadsheet data, these two options make the matching more aligned with office practices: ignoring case reduces missed matches due to case differences; matching whole words helps avoid erroneously replacing part of a word. Whether to check these options depends on the characteristics of the data.
Step 4: Enable Content Highlighting After Replacement
In the "Other Settings" area below the same setup interface, you can see the "Highlight replaced content" option. This option is marked by a red box in the screenshot. This task requires not only batch find and replace but also highlighting the replaced content, so this switch needs to be enabled.
When enabled, the software will add a conspicuous highlight effect to the replaced cells during execution. As seen in the after-processing screenshot, the cells replaced with "Office supplies" and "Warehouse B" display a yellow background color. This allows users, upon opening the processed Excel file, to see the modified locations without needing to search for keywords again.
Highlighting is especially useful for documents that need to be reviewed by supervisors, clients, or other departments. It effectively provides a visual marker for batch processing results, making "what was modified" clear at a glance.
Step 5: Proceed to the Next Step, Set the Save Location, and Start Processing
After completing the keyword and highlighting options, click "Next" at the bottom. The interface flow shows subsequent steps including "Set Save Location" and "Start Processing". For such batch processing tasks, it is generally recommended to save the results to a new output location to avoid overwriting the original files and losing the ability to compare. If you need to retain the original data as a backup, you can copy the folder first, or select an independent directory when setting the save location.
After finishing the save location settings, proceed to the start processing phase. The software will execute the find and replace in batch across multiple Excel files according to the imported file list and the configured replacement rules. Once processing is complete, you can open the result files to see the replaced content and verify the modifications via the highlighted cells.
Common Questions and Considerations
1. Why is it recommended to back up Excel files first?
Batch replacement affects multiple files simultaneously. If the replacement rules are entered incorrectly, the impact scope will be significant. Therefore, before official processing, it is advisable to back up the original xlsx or xls files, or save the processing results to a new folder. This way, even if rules need adjustment, you can return to the original files and reprocess them.
2. How to avoid matching errors when replacing multiple groups of keywords?
The left "Keywords to Find" list and the right "Replace With Keywords" list correspond by row. The first line corresponds to the first line, the second to the second, and so on. When setting multiple rule groups, be sure to check the row count and order. For example, don't mistakenly match "Stationery" with "Warehouse B", as this would cause incorrect data meaning.
3. Is highlighting suitable for all batch replacement tasks?
If the replacement results require review, it is recommended to enable highlighting. If it's merely for internal temporary handling and you don't want to change the spreadsheet style, you can decide based on the actual situation. The focus of this article's scenario is "replace and highlight", so this option needs to be turned on.
4. How to choose between exact search and fuzzy search?
The screenshot uses "Find exact text". When the content to replace is very clear, such as fixed category names, fixed warehouse names, or fixed product statuses, exact search is safer. The interface also shows the "Fuzzy lookup using formulas" option, suitable for more complex matching scenarios. However, for standard keyword replacement, exact search is usually easier to control for results.
Summary: Reducing Repetitive Work with Batch Processing Tools
Batch finding and replacing keywords in multiple Excel files is a very typical repetitive task in office work. Using HeSoft Doc Batch Tool , you can transform the operation of opening, searching, and replacing file by file into a single workflow of importing files, setting rules once, and executing one batch process. More importantly, after enabling "Highlight replaced content", the processing results are clearly visible, making subsequent review much more efficient.
If you maintain a large number of inventory sheets, ledgers, project lists, customer data, or statistical reports and need to uniformly modify keywords in xlsx or xls files, it is recommended to follow the steps in this article to first test the rules with a few files, confirm the replacement and highlighting effects are correct, and then batch process all files. This improves efficiency and helps better control data quality.