I have some large worksheets in Excel 2002 and I often use Control-F (Find
and Replace) to locate items. Lately it has been working erratically, and
more often than not produces this error message:

"Microsoft Excel cannot find the data you're searching for. Check your
search options, location, and formatting."

Closing and re-opening Excel isn't fixing this problem, it keeps
re-occurring.

Does anyone have an explanation for what triggers this, and a way I can get
Find and Replace working properly again.

John

Hi John,

I'm sorry to hear that you're having trouble with the Find and Replace feature in Excel 2002. There are a few things that could be causing this issue, but I'll do my best to provide some troubleshooting steps that should help.

1. Check your search options: When you use the Find and Replace feature, there are several options you can choose from to refine your search. Make sure that you have the correct options selected for your search. For example, if you're searching for a specific word, make sure that the "Match entire cell contents" option is unchecked.
   
2. Check your location: Make sure that you're searching in the correct location. If you're searching for a specific value in a worksheet, make sure that you have the correct worksheet selected.
   
3. Check your formatting: If you're searching for a value that has specific formatting (such as bold or italic), make sure that you have the correct formatting selected in the Find and Replace options.
   
4. Clear the cache: Excel stores a cache of recently used search terms, which can sometimes cause issues with the Find and Replace feature. To clear the cache, go to the "File" menu, select "Options," then select "Advanced." Scroll down to the "General" section and click the "Clear" button next to "Recently used file list" and "Recently used folder list."
   
5. Repair or reinstall Excel: If none of the above steps work, it's possible that there's a problem with your Excel installation. Try repairing or reinstalling Excel to see if that resolves the issue.

I hope these steps help you get the Find and Replace feature working properly again. Let me know if you have any other questions or if there's anything else I can do to assist you.