Highlighting Cells Containing Specific Text

You can use the conditional formatting feature in Excel to help draw attention to cells that contain specific text in which you are interested. For instance, if you have a range of cells and you want to know which ones contain the letters "shawn," then you can do the following:

1. Select the range of cells.
2. With the Home tab of the ribbon displayed, click the Conditional Formatting option in the Styles group. Excel displays a palette of options related to conditional formatting.
3. Choose New Rule. Excel displays the New Formatting Rule dialog box.
4. In the Select a Rule Type area at the top of the dialog box, choose Format Only Cells that Contain.
5. Using the left-most drop-down list in the criteria area, select Specific Text. (Click here to see a related figure.)
6. Make sure the center drop-down list is Containing.
7. In the right-most box enter "shawn" (without the quote marks).
8. Click Format to display the Format Cells dialog box.
9. Using the controls in the dialog box, specify a format that you want used for those cells that contain the specified text. For instance, you may want bold text in a red typeface.
10. Click OK to dismiss the Format Cells dialog box. The formatting you specified in step 9 should now appear in the preview area for the rule.
11. Click OK.