When working with multiple xlsx inventory sheets, ledger tables, or data lists, if you need to uniformly replace old keywords with new ones and highlight the replacement positions in yellow, manual operation is very inefficient. This article introduces a batch processing method suitable for office scenarios: using the Excel find and replace feature of HeSoft Doc Batch Tool , import multiple spreadsheet files, set the find text, replace text, and matching rules, enable post-replacement highlighting, and complete content updates and result marking in batches.
Many office workers encounter similar problems: a folder contains a batch of Excel spreadsheets, and certain text within them needs to be modified uniformly. For example, "Stationery" in a product inventory sheet needs to be changed to "Office supplies," and "Warehouse C" in the warehouse field needs to be changed to "Warehouse B". If it's just one file, manual find-and-replace isn't complicated; but if there are multiple xlsx spreadsheets, or even multiple worksheets and numerous keywords per sheet, opening and editing files one by one becomes inefficient and error-prone.
Even more troublesome is that some teams need to check the replacement locations afterward. Simply performing the replacement isn't enough; one must also know which cells were modified. If you need to manually highlight each replaced cell yellow, the workload increases further. This article focuses on the requirement of "uniformly replacing text and highlighting across multiple xlsx spreadsheets," introducing how to use HeSoft Doc Batch Tool to perform Excel batch find-and-replace and highlight the replaced content.
HeSoft Doc Batch Tool is an office software primarily designed for batch processing scenarios involving documents, spreadsheets, presentations, PDFs, images, text, and other files. For users who need to repeatedly process large numbers of files, it can help reduce mechanical operations, turning the modification of multiple files into a configurable, batch-executable process.
Applicable Scenarios: When is batch replacing and highlighting Excel content needed?
Batch find-and-replace with highlighting is suitable not only for English keywords but also for Chinese names, serial numbers, departments, statuses, addresses, categories, and more. As long as fixed text needs to be uniformly replaced across multiple Excel files, this method can be considered.
Here are common office scenarios:
- Batch updating inventory lists: Product categories, storage locations, warehouse names, or inventory statuses undergo adjustments and need to be synchronized across multiple Excel files.
- Uniform revision of personnel or administrative ledgers: Department names, position titles, or office locations change, requiring batch modification of old text.
- Organizing sales quotes and customer lists: Standardizing customer types, region names, channel names, or product descriptions to ensure consistency across multiple spreadsheets.
- Batch maintenance of project management sheets: Replacing old project statuses, old manager names, or old phase names with the latest terminology.
- Auditing and review scenarios: Needing to quickly identify which locations were replaced after processing, thus requiring the replacement results to be automatically highlighted.
Compared to Excel's built-in features, the advantage of this batch tool is its ability to import multiple files at once and set up multiple replacement rule groups. For common Excel files like xlsx and xls, users can perform batch processing without writing macro code or learning complex scripts.
Effect Preview: Before-and-After Comparison to Confirm Highlighting Results
Before Replacement: Old keywords distributed across different columns and cells
The table before processing is a Product Inventory List. The header includes fields like Product ID, Product Name, Category, Status, and Location. In the screenshot, you can see "Stationery" appears multiple times in the Category column, and "Warehouse C" appears in the Location column. These are the old keywords to be batch found and replaced.
In a real office environment, this kind of data often exists not just in one Excel file, but is distributed across multiple inventory lists, backup sheets, and departmental data spreadsheets. Manual processing requires opening each file and searching for keywords separately. Missing just one file or worksheet could lead to data inconsistencies.
After Replacement: New keywords are effective and automatically highlighted
The post-processing screenshot shows that the original "Stationery" has become "Office supplies," and the original "Warehouse C" has become "Warehouse B." At the same time, the replaced cells have a distinct yellow fill effect, directly informing the user that this content resulted from the batch replacement operation.
This "replace + highlight" effect is very practical. For example, if a supervisor needs to quickly review the scope of modifications, or a colleague needs to continue verifying data based on the highlighted areas, they don't have to search for keywords again—they just need to look at the highlighted cells.
Steps: Batch Replace Content in Multiple Excel Files and Highlight
Following the order shown in the screenshots, here is a step-by-step guide on how to complete the operation. The overall process can be summarized as: Enter Excel Tools, select the Find and Replace function; import the spreadsheet files to be processed; set the find and replace keywords; enable post-replace highlighting; proceed to the next step and execute the processing.
Step 1: Navigate to the Excel Tools category in the software
After opening HeSoft Doc Batch Tool , first look at the left navigation bar. The interface shows categories like "Home," "Task Flow," "All Tools," "File Name," "Folder Name," "File Organization," "Word Tools," "Excel Tools," "PowerPoint Tools," "PDF Tools," etc. Since the processing target is Excel spreadsheet content, you need to click "Excel Tools" on the left.
Once inside Excel Tools, the main area will display multiple Excel-related function cards. The function highlighted in the screenshot is "Find and Replace Keywords in Excel", described as batch finding and replacing keywords in Excel file content. Click this function to start this batch replacement task.
The purpose of this step is to select the correct processing module. Batch tools in office software typically have many functions—some handle file names, some convert formats, others encrypt or decrypt. Only by entering "Find and Replace Keywords in Excel" can you perform batch modifications to the spreadsheet content itself.
Step 2: Import multiple xlsx spreadsheet files to be processed
After entering the function page, you will see a process step indicator. You are currently at Step 1, "Select records to be processed." At the top of the page are two buttons: "Add Files" and "Import Files from Folder", suitable for different situations.
- To process only a few specified files, use "Add Files."
- If multiple Excel files are concentrated in one folder, "Import Files from Folder" is more convenient for a single import action.
In the screenshot, the task list has already imported multiple records with file names like Product Inventory List - Copy (2).xlsx, Product Inventory List - Copy (3).xlsx, etc., with the extension column showing xlsx. The list also shows information like the file path, creation time, and modification date, making it easy for users to verify the file source.
After importing, check two things: first, that the number of files is correct, and second, whether any files that shouldn't be processed have been mixed in. If a file shouldn't participate in the replacement, you can remove it using the delete option in the action column on the right side of the list. Once the file list is confirmed, click "Next" below to enter the processing options settings.
Step 3: Select exact text search to control the replacement scope
On the "Set Keyword Options" page, first set the search method. The screenshot shows two options: "Exact text search" and "Fuzzy text search using formulas." The example selects "Exact text search".
If your goal is to replace specific old text with new text, such as "Stationery" to "Office supplies" or "Warehouse C" to "Warehouse B", then exact search is more suitable. It emphasizes the search text itself, helping users control the replacement scope more accurately and avoid replacing unrelated, similar content.
In the additional options area, the screenshot also shows "Ignore letter case" and "Match whole word, not part of a word" checked. These two options are particularly important for English keywords. Ignoring case prevents missing content due to different capitalizations; matching whole words prevents replacing only part of a word.
For example, when replacing "Warehouse C," you should try to avoid mistakenly processing other text containing similar characters but with different meanings. Properly setting the matching method makes batch replacement more reliable.
Step 4: Enter find keywords and replacement keywords
Next, configure the most critical replacement rules. On the left side of the page is the "List of keywords to find," and on the right side is the "List of replacement keywords." In the example, the left side has two lines:
- Stationery
- Warehouse C
The right side has two corresponding lines:
- Office supplies
- Warehouse B
The rules here correspond by line. That is, the first line on the left, "Stationery," will be replaced by the first line on the right, "Office supplies"; the second line on the left, "Warehouse C," will be replaced by the second line on the right, "Warehouse B." If the order of lines is mismatched, the replacement results will not meet expectations.
To reduce the chance of errors, it's recommended to adopt the following methods when entering multiple keyword groups:
- First, organize a comparison table of old and new keywords locally;
- Copy them in the same order into the left and right lists;
- Check line by line for any spaces, capitalization, or spelling errors;
- Ensure that text not intended for replacement is not written into the find list.
To batch replace Chinese content, follow the same logic. For example, enter "Old Warehouse Name" on the left and "New Warehouse Name" on the right; enter "Pending" on the left and "Processed" on the right. As long as the text matches correctly, the batch processing will replace it according to the rules.
Step 5: Enable highlighting for replaced content
Another key point of this tutorial is "yellow marking" or "highlighting". In the "Other Settings" section at the bottom of the page, you can see the "Highlight the replaced content" option. When enabled, the software will highlight the replaced cells while replacing the content.
The expected result of this step is: after batch processing is complete, when you open the Excel file, you will not only see that the new text has been replaced but also quickly identify the replacement locations by their highlighted background. In the post-processing screenshot, the cells containing "Office supplies" and "Warehouse B" are highlighted with a yellow background, indicating that this option has taken effect.
If your workflow only requires text modification without manual review, you can decide whether to enable it based on the actual situation. However, in most business office scenarios, enabling highlighting is recommended, as it significantly improves the efficiency of result checking.
Step 6: Click next, set the save location, and start processing
After completing the search method, keyword lists, and highlight option settings, click the "Next" button at the bottom. As shown in the page process indicator, subsequent steps include "Set save location" and "Start processing". This means the user needs to confirm where the processed files will be saved in the next step and then execute the batch task.
It is advisable to perform one final check before officially starting the processing:
- Does the file list contain all target xlsx files;
- Are there any files that should not be processed mixed into the list;
- Do the find keywords and replacement keywords correspond correctly by line;
- Have you checked "Ignore letter case" and "Match whole word" as needed;
- Is the "Highlight the replaced content" option enabled;
- Have important files been backed up or saved separately.
Once confirmed, start the processing. The software will batch open and modify the content of the imported Excel files. After the process ends, users can open the output files to check the results, confirming that the keywords have been replaced and the highlighting is displayed correctly.
Frequently Asked Questions and Notes
1. Why highlight after replacement?
Highlighting makes the result more transparent. After batch processing multiple files, it's difficult for users to rely on memory to judge which locations were modified. Highlighted cells essentially auto-generate modification traces, facilitating checking, reporting, and handover.
2. What if keywords have case differences?
The screenshot provides the "Ignore letter case" option. For English content, if inconsistent capitalization might exist, checking this option can help reduce missed replacements. For example, forms like Stationery, stationery, and STATIONERY can be identified more uniformly.
3. Will multiple replacement rules interfere with each other?
When using multiple rule groups, the key is to maintain the line correspondence between the left and right lists and avoid inclusion relationships or conflicts between rules. For instance, if one rule replaces a short word and another replaces a longer word containing that short word, be careful to set full word matching to prevent unexpected replacements.
4. Can I import an entire folder at once?
As shown in the screenshot, the page provides an "Import Files from Folder" button. If the target Excel files are concentrated in one folder, using this button can import them more efficiently, making it suitable for batch processing multiple xlsx spreadsheets.
5. Do I need to close Excel files before the operation?
Although the screenshot doesn't specifically address file locking issues, from a practical office habit standpoint, it's recommended to close any open target Excel files before batch modification to avoid file occupation or save conflicts. It's also advisable to keep backups of the original files so you can recover if rules are set incorrectly.
6. Can deleting be achieved by replacing with empty content?
The note next to the "List of replacement keywords" in the screenshot says "Leave blank to delete." This indicates that if the replacement content corresponding to a find keyword line is empty, it can be used to delete that keyword. If you just want to replace it with new content, you should fill in the corresponding new text on the right side.
Summary: Turning text replacement and highlighting across multiple Excel files into a standard process
Uniformly replacing text and highlighting across multiple xlsx spreadsheets is often time-consuming, repetitive, and prone to omissions when done manually. Using HeSoft Doc Batch Tool , you can break this process down into clear steps: select the Excel Find and Replace function, import multiple files, set exact search and replace text, enable post-replace highlighting, and then execute the processing uniformly.
From the example results, you can see that the old keywords "Stationery" and "Warehouse C" were batch replaced with "Office supplies" and "Warehouse B," and the replaced cells were automatically highlighted. Such results satisfy both content updating and review needs, making it very suitable for common office files like inventory sheets, ledgers, customer lists, and quotation sheets.
If you frequently need to process a large number of Excel, xlsx, or xls files, consider delegating such repetitive work to batch processing software. First, organize the files and keyword rules, then follow the steps to execute. This turns the task, which originally required repeatedly opening spreadsheets, into an efficient process of configuring once and completing in batch.