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How to color or highlight certain word in cells in Excel?

If a cell contains multiple words, how can you highlight a certain word only in this cell? And how about highlighting this certain word in multiple cells? This article will provide a method to achieve it.

Color certain word in a single cell/multiple cells with VBA code


Color certain word in a single cell/multiple cells with VBA code

The following VBA code can help you highlight the certain word in a selection. Please do as follows.

1. Select the range contains the cells you want to highlight certain word inside. Then press the Alt + F11 keys simultaneously to open the Microsoft Visual Basic for Applications window.

2. In the opening Microsoft Visual Basic for Applications window, click Insert > Module. Then copy and paste VBA code into the Code window.

VBA code: Color certain word in cells in Excel

Sub HighlightStrings()
    Dim xHStr As String, xStrTmp As String
    Dim xHStrLen As Long, xCount As Long, I As Long
    Dim xCell As Range
    Dim xArr
    On Error Resume Next
    xHStr = Application.InputBox("What is the string to highlight:", "KuTools For Excel", , , , , , 2)
    If TypeName(xHStr) <> "String" Then Exit Sub
    Application.ScreenUpdating = False
        xHStrLen = Len(xHStr)
        For Each xCell In Selection
            xArr = Split(xCell.Value, xHStr)
            xCount = UBound(xArr)
            If xCount > 0 Then
                xStrTmp = ""
                For I = 0 To xCount - 1
                    xStrTmp = xStrTmp & xArr(I)
                    xCell.Characters(Len(xStrTmp) + 1, xHStrLen).Font.ColorIndex = 3
                    xStrTmp = xStrTmp & xHStr
                Next
            End If
        Next
    Application.ScreenUpdating = True
End Sub

3. Press the F5 key to run the code. And in the Kutools for Excel dialog box, please enter the certain word you will highlight in cells, and then click the OK button. See screenshot:

Then you can see all the words you have specified are colored in red in selected cells immediately as below screenshot shown.


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Comments (24)
Rated 5 out of 5 · 1 ratings
This comment was minimized by the moderator on the site
Is there any chance that I can do both coloring and make words Bond with that VBA code? Please help me :)
This comment was minimized by the moderator on the site
Bonjour Cristal,
Merci pour ce code. Est-il possible de l'adapter pour mettre en évidence plusieurs mots "Apple,Rose,Vert,Merci"
Merci
This comment was minimized by the moderator on the site
Hi Cous,

The following VBA code can help. After running the code, you will get a dialog box. Please type in the words you want to highlight and separate them by comma.
https://www.extendoffice.com/images/stories/comments/comment-picture-zxm/highlight.png
Sub HighlightStrings()
'Updated by Extendoffice 20230130
    Dim xHStr As String, xStrTmp As String
    Dim xHStrLen As Long, xCount As Long, I As Long
    Dim xCell As Range
    Dim xArr
    Dim xArr2
    On Error Resume Next
    xHStr = Application.InputBox("What is the string to highlight:", "KuTools For Excel", , , , , , 2)
    If TypeName(xHStr) <> "String" Then Exit Sub
    Application.ScreenUpdating = False
    
    xArr2 = Split(xHStr, ",")
    For j = 0 To UBound(xArr2)
        xHStr = xArr2(j)
    
        xHStrLen = Len(xHStr)
        For Each xCell In Selection
            xArr = Split(xCell.Value, xHStr)
            xCount = UBound(xArr)
            If xCount > 0 Then
                xStrTmp = ""
                For I = 0 To xCount - 1
                    xStrTmp = xStrTmp & xArr(I)
                    xCell.Characters(Len(xStrTmp) + 1, xHStrLen).Font.ColorIndex = 3
                    xStrTmp = xStrTmp & xHStr
                Next
            End If
        Next
    Next
    
    Application.ScreenUpdating = True
End Sub
This comment was minimized by the moderator on the site
Thank you. that was really helpful. Can someone please tell how to color the text instead of highlighting it?

Regards
This comment was minimized by the moderator on the site
Hi Shaik Faiaz hamad,

Excel does not allow coloring a part of a cell. I'm sorry I can't help you with this problem.
This comment was minimized by the moderator on the site
Thank you that is very useful. How can I Highlight a word instead of a font color?

Regards.
This comment was minimized by the moderator on the site
how could the script be altered to do the following?

increase the font by 1 size, and
highlight multiple words with one running of the script?

Thx!
This comment was minimized by the moderator on the site
Hi t.taln,

If you want to increae the font size by 1 and highlight multiple words at the same time, please add the following line after the line "xCell.Characters(Len(xStrTmp) + 1, xHStrLen).Font.ColorIndex = 3" in the VBA code.
Note: You need to know the current font size of the selected cell beforehand, and then enter a number one size larger than the original word. The number 12 in the line below is the font size I will assign to the matching words. And the original font size of the word is 11.
xCell.Characters(Len(xStrTmp) + 1, xHStrLen).Font.Size = 12
This comment was minimized by the moderator on the site
That's very nice, thx! I'm wondering if anyone knows how to make it work on Mac? Many thanks
Rated 5 out of 5
This comment was minimized by the moderator on the site
Ciao,
a me servirebbe evidenziare tutti i numeri (comprensivi di due decimali) da -10,00 a 0 in rosso e da 0 a +10,00 in verde. come posso fare per non aggiungere singolarmente ogni dato senza aggiungerli tutti manualmente?

Grazie mille
This comment was minimized by the moderator on the site
Hi Ciao,
Are your numbers located in different cells in a range? If so, you can create two conditional formatting rules (between -10 and 0, between 0 and 10) to highlight these numbers. If not, can you upload a screenshot of your data?
This comment was minimized by the moderator on the site
Buna,

Coloreaza cuvantul doar daca e la inceput. Daca e la mijloc in aceeasi casuta de excel sau la sfarsit nu-l coloreaza.
Ce anume as putea schimba in cod pentru a-l colora indiferent unde se afla in casuta excel?

Multumesc!
This comment was minimized by the moderator on the site
Hi Andreea,
If you only want to highlight the word if it is at the beginning of the selected cells. The following VBA code can do you a favor. Please give it a try.
Sub HighlightStrings()
'Updated by Extendoffice 20220805
    Dim xHStr As String, xStrTmp As String
    Dim xHStrLen As Long, xCount As Long, I As Long
    Dim xCell As Range
    Dim xArr
    On Error Resume Next
    xHStr = Application.InputBox("What is the string to highlight:", "KuTools For Excel", , , , , , 2)
    If TypeName(xHStr) <> "String" Then Exit Sub
    Application.ScreenUpdating = False
        xHStrLen = Len(xHStr)
        For Each xCell In Selection
            If xHStrLen <= Len(xCell.Value) Then
                If xHStr = Left(xCell.Value, xHStrLen) Then
                    xCell.Characters(1, xHStrLen).Font.ColorIndex = 3
                End If
            End If
        Next
    Application.ScreenUpdating = True
End Sub
This comment was minimized by the moderator on the site
Bonjour,
Est-il possible de supprimer la boite de dialogue et de mettre par défaut "apple" comme mot recherché ?
Merci
This comment was minimized by the moderator on the site
Hello PAUC,
The following code can do you a favor. Please give it a try.
Sub HighlightStrings()
'Updated by Extendoffice 20220721
    Dim xHStr As String, xStrTmp As String
    Dim xHStrLen As Long, xCount As Long, I As Long
    Dim xCell As Range
    Dim xArr
    On Error Resume Next
    xHStr = "apple"
    If TypeName(xHStr) <> "String" Then Exit Sub
    Application.ScreenUpdating = False
        xHStrLen = Len(xHStr)
        For Each xCell In Selection
            xArr = Split(xCell.Value, xHStr)
            xCount = UBound(xArr)
            If xCount > 0 Then
                xStrTmp = ""
                For I = 0 To xCount - 1
                    xStrTmp = xStrTmp & xArr(I)
                    xCell.Characters(Len(xStrTmp) + 1, xHStrLen).Font.ColorIndex = 3
                    xStrTmp = xStrTmp & xHStr
                Next
            End If
        Next
    Application.ScreenUpdating = True
End Sub
This comment was minimized by the moderator on the site
Thanks... this was very helpful! Is there a way to adjust the macro so that it only highlights whole words instead of partials. For instance, I'm trying to highlight the word "design" but it highlights the "design" in the word "designate". I want it to skip over that word if it's not the whole word. Thanks!
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