As part of my job, I am required to perform spellchecks on worksheet pages of
excel files (financial statements). These worksheet pages contain many text
boxes. From time-to-time I run across a situation where spellcheck will find
a misspelled word that does not exist in any of the text boxes that are
visible on that worksheet, but may have been visible at one time. I think
the problem is that the accountant that created the excel file wanted to
delete certain text boxes and thought that he had done so, but never really
did delete them. Instead, he deleted the rows contained the text box, which
basically collapsed the text box. Now, I CANNOT find these text boxes! I
sometimes mistakenly find these collapsed text boxes by hovering over them
with my cursor, which detects them by changing shape. Unfortunately, all
text boxes in these excel files have been formatted to have NO FILL and NO
LINE, which makes them impossible to find (invisible)!

Please help me figure out how to find text boxes that have been collapsed or
made so small that they are the size of a pinpoint.

--
Margot

Hi Margot,

I understand your frustration with trying to find hidden text boxes in Excel. Fortunately, there are a few steps you can take to locate them.

1. Use the Selection Pane: The Selection Pane is a tool that allows you to see all the objects on a worksheet, including hidden ones. To access it, go to the Home tab, click on the Find & Select button, and select Selection Pane. This will open a pane on the right-hand side of the screen that lists all the objects on the worksheet. Look for any objects that are listed as "hidden" or have a small eye icon next to them. You can then select the object in the pane and make it visible by clicking on the eye icon.
   
2. Use the Name Box: The Name Box is a tool that displays the name of the currently selected object. If you know the name of the hidden text box, you can use the Name Box to select it. Simply type the name of the text box into the Name Box and press Enter. This will select the text box, even if it is hidden.
   
3. Use the Go To Special command: The Go To Special command is a tool that allows you to select all objects of a certain type on a worksheet. To use it, select any object on the worksheet, then go to the Home tab, click on the Find & Select button, and select Go To Special. In the Go To Special dialog box, select Objects and click OK. This will select all objects on the worksheet, including hidden ones. You can then use the Selection Pane or the Name Box to locate the hidden text box.

I hope these tips help you locate the hidden text boxes in your Excel files.

If you press F5, then click special and the select objects and click OK all
text boxes should be selected and even those that were hidden will have
it's borders displayed with some dot pattern and then you can grab the round
handles and make them larger. Once you have decided which ones are obsolete
you can delete them

--


Regards,


Peo Sjoblom

"Margot" wrote in message
...
As part of my job, I am required to perform spellchecks on worksheet pages
of
excel files (financial statements). These worksheet pages contain many
text
boxes. From time-to-time I run across a situation where spellcheck will
find
a misspelled word that does not exist in any of the text boxes that are
visible on that worksheet, but may have been visible at one time. I think
the problem is that the accountant that created the excel file wanted to
delete certain text boxes and thought that he had done so, but never
really
did delete them. Instead, he deleted the rows contained the text box,
which
basically collapsed the text box. Now, I CANNOT find these text boxes! I
sometimes mistakenly find these collapsed text boxes by hovering over them
with my cursor, which detects them by changing shape. Unfortunately, all
text boxes in these excel files have been formatted to have NO FILL and NO
LINE, which makes them impossible to find (invisible)!

Please help me figure out how to find text boxes that have been collapsed
or
made so small that they are the size of a pinpoint.

--
Margot

Hi Margot,
I tried Peo's solution because I hadn't heard of it before. I found it
didn't work if the rows or columns were hidden.

To unhide the rows or columns you need to press the top lift-hand cell to
select all cells then click on the row header column and select "unhide", and
do a similar thing to the columns. This will of course muck up the formatting
of the spreadsheet for these rows or columns, but if you know which rows (or
columns)were hidden you can hide them again.

If the rows containing the textbox were deleted then, from my observation,
the textbox was also deleted, and the spelling checker couldn't find the
spelling errors it had contained.

Hope this helps.

"Margot" wrote:

As part of my job, I am required to perform spellchecks on worksheet pages of
excel files (financial statements). These worksheet pages contain many text
boxes. From time-to-time I run across a situation where spellcheck will find
a misspelled word that does not exist in any of the text boxes that are
visible on that worksheet, but may have been visible at one time. I think
the problem is that the accountant that created the excel file wanted to
delete certain text boxes and thought that he had done so, but never really
did delete them. Instead, he deleted the rows contained the text box, which
basically collapsed the text box. Now, I CANNOT find these text boxes! I
sometimes mistakenly find these collapsed text boxes by hovering over them
with my cursor, which detects them by changing shape. Unfortunately, all
text boxes in these excel files have been formatted to have NO FILL and NO
LINE, which makes them impossible to find (invisible)!

Please help me figure out how to find text boxes that have been collapsed or
made so small that they are the size of a pinpoint.

--
Margot

Peo,

Thank you very much for your quick response! I will certainly perform the
steps that you suggested to resolve my hidden text box dilemma!
--
Margot


"Peo Sjoblom" wrote:

If you press F5, then click special and the select objects and click OK all
text boxes should be selected and even those that were hidden will have
it's borders displayed with some dot pattern and then you can grab the round
handles and make them larger. Once you have decided which ones are obsolete
you can delete them

--


Regards,


Peo Sjoblom

"Margot" wrote in message
...
As part of my job, I am required to perform spellchecks on worksheet pages
of
excel files (financial statements). These worksheet pages contain many
text
boxes. From time-to-time I run across a situation where spellcheck will
find
a misspelled word that does not exist in any of the text boxes that are
visible on that worksheet, but may have been visible at one time. I think
the problem is that the accountant that created the excel file wanted to
delete certain text boxes and thought that he had done so, but never
really
did delete them. Instead, he deleted the rows contained the text box,
which
basically collapsed the text box. Now, I CANNOT find these text boxes! I
sometimes mistakenly find these collapsed text boxes by hovering over them
with my cursor, which detects them by changing shape. Unfortunately, all
text boxes in these excel files have been formatted to have NO FILL and NO
LINE, which makes them impossible to find (invisible)!

Please help me figure out how to find text boxes that have been collapsed
or
made so small that they are the size of a pinpoint.

--
Margot

Normek,

Thank you for your supplement to Peo's response! I will make sure to unhide
the rows/columns before performing the steps that Peo has recommended.

--
Margot


"Normek" wrote:

Hi Margot,
I tried Peo's solution because I hadn't heard of it before. I found it
didn't work if the rows or columns were hidden.

To unhide the rows or columns you need to press the top lift-hand cell to
select all cells then click on the row header column and select "unhide", and
do a similar thing to the columns. This will of course muck up the formatting
of the spreadsheet for these rows or columns, but if you know which rows (or
columns)were hidden you can hide them again.

If the rows containing the textbox were deleted then, from my observation,
the textbox was also deleted, and the spelling checker couldn't find the
spelling errors it had contained.

Hope this helps.

"Margot" wrote:

As part of my job, I am required to perform spellchecks on worksheet pages of
excel files (financial statements). These worksheet pages contain many text
boxes. From time-to-time I run across a situation where spellcheck will find
a misspelled word that does not exist in any of the text boxes that are
visible on that worksheet, but may have been visible at one time. I think
the problem is that the accountant that created the excel file wanted to
delete certain text boxes and thought that he had done so, but never really
did delete them. Instead, he deleted the rows contained the text box, which
basically collapsed the text box. Now, I CANNOT find these text boxes! I
sometimes mistakenly find these collapsed text boxes by hovering over them
with my cursor, which detects them by changing shape. Unfortunately, all
text boxes in these excel files have been formatted to have NO FILL and NO
LINE, which makes them impossible to find (invisible)!

Please help me figure out how to find text boxes that have been collapsed or
made so small that they are the size of a pinpoint.

--
Margot