Numbers: Find and Replace in selected area

Not possible in the native Numbers interface. However you can use this Find Replace in Selection Shortcut (in Safari click the link and, if you want, install with another click or two). You can run either from the built-in Shortcuts app or, more convenient, pin it to the Menu Bar so that it behaves like any other menu pick on your Mac. Just select the range in Numbers and pick from the menu.

Here is what it looks like internally. You won't see this unless you want.

SG

Bomiboll,

Not the solution you are looking for, exactly, but might work in some situations, and it's "native" Numbers.

I have highlighted the navigation arrows in the screen image above, where I have entered Find and Replace values.

Begin by clicking on the table of interest to Focus on that table. After activating the Find and Replace window with Cmd-F, if you click the Right Arrow, the first instance of the Find value in the selected table will be highlighted in yellow and the rest will be highlighted in gray. You can use the arrow key to advance your way through the marked instances, and each time you encounter one that you want to change, click the Replace button, then move on to the next instance. All the instances of the Find value will have been highlighted in gray in the entire document; every Sheet and every Table. You can stop searching when you have encountered all the cases you wish to change.

Just a low-tech suggestion in case your case is a simple one.

J

Have you tried the Shortcut suggested above? Robust AppleScript support is there for a reason in Numbers. It is "native" Numbers in that sense. In this case the code is wrapped in a Shortcut, also now native Apple technology included on every Mac, which in essence adds a convenient custom menu.

Selecting a range in Numbers choosing Find Replace in Selection from the menu brings up these prompts:

Sometimes low tech solutions are the most efficient. The humble copy-paste is underrated. But don't let "scriptophobia" prevent you from considering custom solutions in cases like this where the basic Numbers interface doesn't quite do what you want it to do.

You can make a request to Apple via Numbers > Provide Numbers Feedback in your menu. The ability to restrict search has been a perennial topic over the years, and if enough users request it, then Apple might bump it up on the list of priorities.

SG

Bomiboll wrote:

There is no problem like the one with Numbers, no need to scrip solutions

Same with Excel

There's no "problem" in Numbers either. And you don't need to "scrip a solution." I've already done that for you. Have you even tried it? It will take less than a minute to see if it will meet your needs. (It's met mine for years.)

Of course if you prefer Excel or Google Sheets then by all means use them instead. They are good apps. I use them too.

SG