Using Text Tools
To display the Text Tools dialog box, first select the cells to modify, then use of these methods:
- Choose Text Tools from the Text Tools group on the Home tab.
Note that this is a "split button" control. If you click the
top part, the Text Tools dialog box is displayed with the last operation
selected. Or, you can select
a specific operation by clicking the drop-down arrow in the Text Tools control.
or...
- Right-click, and choose Text Tools
from the shortcut menu.
The Text Tools utility always works with the current range selection. The
Text Tools dialog box is a "stay on top" dialog box. After you click
Apply, you can
select different cells to work with, and continue working in Excel while
the dialog box remains on screen. The cell selection can consist of a discrete
range, entire rows or columns, a multiple selection, or even the entire
worksheet.
After Applying an operation, you can undo it by clicking Excel's Undo
button (or press Ctrl+Z). Only one level of undo is available
When you are finished using Text Tools, click Close.
Changing the case of text
- In the Text Tools dialog box, select the Change case operation.
- Select the appropriate Change to option to convert the selected text.
- Click Apply to modify the selected cells.
Adding text
- Select the cells that you want to modify.
- In the Text Tools dialog box, select the Add text operation.
- Enter the text you want to add in the Text to add box.
- In the Character position drop-down, select the option that corresponds to the position where you want the text to be added.
- If you want to limit the operations to selected cell that contain text,
select Skip non-text cells. If this option is not checked, cells that
contain values will also be modified.
- Click Apply to modify the selected cells.
Removing text by position
- Select the cells that you want to modify.
- In the Text Tools dialog box, select the Remove by position option.
- In the Characters to remove drop-down, choose the number of characters to be deleted.
- In the Character position drop-down, choose the position from which you want the characters removed.
- If you want to limit the operation to selected cells that contain text,
select Skip non-text cells. If this option is not checked, cells that
contain values will also be modified.
- Click Apply to modify the selected cells.
Removing spaces
- Select the cells that you want to modify.
- In the Text Tools dialog box, select the Remove spaces option.
- In the Remove drop-down, select the option that corresponds to the spaces that you want to remove.
- Click Apply to modify the selected cells.
Note: Selecting All Excess Spaces is equivalent to applying
Excel's TRIM function to the cells.
Deleting characters by type
- Select the cells that you want to modify
- In the Text Tools dialog box, select the Delete characters option.
- In the Remove all drop-down, select the option that corresponds to the
type of characters that you want to remove.
- Click Apply to modify the selected cells.
Note: Selecting Non-printing characters is equivalent to
applying Excel's CLEAN function to the cells.
See Also