David,
A possibility is that the numbers have extra characters
(blanks) on the end. Try TRIM/CLEAN function on a cell where you know there
is a match and see if FIND now works.

"DavidM" wrote:

I need to search within Excel files for particular numbers.
I use the standard Find command for *.xls files containing Text but am
having no luck in this working. I think that the numbers were originally
entered as Numbers.
I have tried to re-format these numbers as Text (they are all in a single
column within each file) but unless I actually retype each number
individually the search does not recognise it/them.
Any ideas gratefully received. (I am actually trying to use the system as a
"where used" for some old bills of materials that I am researching)
Thank you
--
DavidM