"Replace All" command replaces cells in unselected worksheets in Excel 2002 or in Excel 2003 (284881)

SYMPTOMS

When you select multiple, but not all, worksheets in a Microsoft Excel 2002 or a Microsoft Excel 2003 workbook, and then click the Replace All button in the Find and Replace dialog box, matching cells in unselected worksheets may be also be replaced.

CAUSE

This behavior can occur if both of the following conditions are true:

You click Replace or Find on the Edit menu with multiple, but not all, worksheets selected.

-and-
You specify Workbook in the Within box on the Replace tab of the Find and Replace dialog box.

Under these conditions, all worksheets in the workbook are searched for matching cells, and as a result, all matching cells are replaced.

WORKAROUND

To work around this issue and replace only cells in selected (grouped) worksheets, follow these steps:

Start Excel 2002 or Excel 2003, and then open the workbook.
Select the group of worksheets.
On the Edit menu, click Replace.
On the Replace tab, specify the text that you want in the Find what and Replace with boxes.
Click Options to display the advanced search options. Click the drop-down arrow in the Within box, and then click Sheet.
Click Replace All.

STATUS

Microsoft has confirmed that this is a problem in the Microsoft products that are listed at the beginning of this article.

MORE INFORMATION

When you select Workbook in the Within box, the options in the Find and Replace dialog box handle the search for multiple selected worksheets in two different ways:

The Replace, Find All, and Find Next commands search only the selected worksheets.
The Replace All command searches all worksheets in the workbook.

When you select Sheets in the Within box, only the selected sheets are searched for matching cells.