You can't change it permanently.

Saved from a previous post:

Excel tries to help by remembering the last settings you used--except for the
first search in that session.

You can use that to your advantage.

You could make a dummy workbook and put it in your xlStart folder. Have a
macro in that workbook that does a find (and sets all the stuff the way you
like). Then closes and gets out of the way.


Option Explicit
Sub auto_open()

'change the settings the way you like
Worksheets("sheet1").Cells.Find What:="", After:=ActiveCell, _
LookIn:=xlValues, _
LookAt:=xlPart, SearchOrder:=xlByColumns, _
SearchDirection:=xlNext, MatchCase:=False

ThisWorkbook.Close savechanges:=False

End Sub

The workbook opens, does a find (to fix your settings) and then closes to get
out of the way.

If you're new to macros, you may want to read David McRitchie's intro at:
http://www.mvps.org/dmcritchie/excel/getstarted.htm

But if you do an Edit|Find and change anything, then those changed settings will
be remembered.

Keith Howard wrote:

Each time I open Excel, I have to configure the Ctrl+F search dialog box to
search by columns instead of by rows. Is there a way to do this permanently,
so that I do not have to set this up each time I load Excel? (By the way, I
would also like to search by Values instead of by Formulas.)

Thanks.

Keith Howard

--

Dave Peterson