Find & Replace
Replace text across a whole spreadsheet in one go. As many rules as you need, advanced patterns, and Change case, on every plan.
Doing it in Excel instead: How to find and replace in Excel
By Operelio team · Updated October 9, 2026
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What it does
Apply one or more find-and-replace rules across your file. Run them on the whole file or on the columns you pick. Rules run in order, so rule 2 sees the results of rule 1.
Rule options
Each rule has a find value, then either a replace value or a case to change to, and optional flags:
| Option | Free | Starter | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Contains | Yes | Yes | The default. Matches the find text anywhere in a cell. |
| Case sensitive | Yes | Yes | "Westmarch" only matches "Westmarch", not "westmarch" or "WESTMARCH". |
| Whole word | Yes | Yes | "and" matches the word "and" but not "sand" or "android". |
| Exact cell | Yes | Yes | Only replaces if the entire cell matches, not just a substring. |
| Advanced patterns | Yes | Yes | Match patterns like phone number formats, postcodes, or email shapes. For technical users, this uses standard regular-expression syntax. |
| Change case | Yes | Yes | Convert matched text to uppercase, lowercase, or title case instead of replacing it. |
How to use it
Upload your file
Works with CSV and Excel (.xlsx, .xls).
Choose where the rules run
Runs on is set once for every rule: Entire file, or Specific columns with the columns you pick.
Add a rule
Type what to find, then choose Replace and type what to change it to, or Change case and pick a case. Adjust the match options if you need them.
Add more rules
Add as many rules as you need. There is no cap on any plan, including Free.
Preview
Each rule shows how many cells it matches. The preview shows your rows as they will be after the run, with changed cells shaded and each changed column labeled with the rules that change it.
Run the job
Click Find and replace. Download the updated file.
Advanced patterns
Advanced patterns let you match formats that plain text can't describe. Instead of a literal search term, you write a pattern that describes the shape of what you're looking for.
Common examples: \d{3}-\d{4} matches phone number fragments like "555-1234" or "999-5678". \b[\w.]+@[\w.]+\.\w+\b matches anything shaped like an email address. [A-Z]{1,2}\d{1,2} matches UK postcode prefixes like "SW1" or "EC2".
You can also capture parts of the match and reuse them in the replacement. Put parts of the pattern in parentheses, then reference them in Replace with \1, \2, and so on. Find (\d{3})-(\d{4}) with Replace (\1) \2 turns "555-1234" into "(555) 1234".
Patterns are limited to 500 characters to keep them from running slowly. Invalid patterns are skipped with a warning on the results page instead of stopping the job.
Change case
Instead of replacing text with a static value, you can transform the case of matched text. The three options are: uppercase ("new york" becomes "NEW YORK"), lowercase ("NEW YORK" becomes "new york"), and title case ("new york" becomes "New York").
Title case handles apostrophes and names correctly: "it's" becomes "It's", not "It'S", and "O'BRIEN" becomes "O'Brien". Small words like "of" and "the" stay lowercase unless they start or end the text, so "HEAD OF PROCUREMENT" becomes "Head of Procurement". Business abbreviations such as LLP, LLC, CEO and VP are written in capitals, and a word already in capitals is kept when the rest of the text is already in title case, so "Head of IBM Partnerships" stays as it is. To case-transform every cell in a column, turn on Advanced patterns and set Find to `.*` (which matches any non-empty text). Then choose Change case, pick the case, and set Runs on to Specific columns with just that column.
What the results show
The results page shows the cells changed, the rows changed, and the rows in the file. A sentence says what was replaced in which columns, and with more than one rule, a line below gives the cells each rule changed. If nothing matched, the page says the file is unchanged.
Run it automatically with a trail
Once the settings are right for the files you get every week, a trail can run them for you. A trail watches a folder and applies your find and replace rules on every file that lands there, then pushes the result into HubSpot, Salesforce or Pipedrive, with nine always-on safety checks, two more you set, and approval built in. Set it up once and the cleanup, the verification, the lead routing and the CRM import are automated from then on.
Trails run on Starter and above.
Replace text across a whole spreadsheet in one go, with as many rules as you need.
Related
Frequently asked questions
Do rules run in order?
Yes. Rule 1 runs first, then rule 2 sees the results of rule 1, and so on. Keep this in mind if rules might overlap.
Is there a limit on pattern length?
Yes. Advanced patterns are limited to 500 characters to prevent slow-running expressions.
What plan do I need?
All of it runs on every plan, including Free: as many rules as you need, every match option, advanced patterns, and Change case.
Ready to get started?
Upload a file and run your first transformation. Free, no credit card required.