How to Automatically Bold a Specific Word in Excel

When working with Excel, there may be times when you need to bold a specific word within a cell automatically. While Excel does not allow partial formatting using formulas, there are several methods to achieve this, including manual formatting, VBA, Conditional Formatting, and Power Query.

1. Manually Bold a Specific Word in a Cell

If you only need to bold certain words in a few cells, you can do this manually:

• Double-click the cell to enter edit mode.
• Highlight the word you want to bold.
• Press Ctrl + B or go to Home > Bold (B).

This method is simple but impractical for large datasets.

2. Using VBA to Bold a Specific Word Automatically

If you need to automate the process for multiple cells, VBA (Visual Basic for Applications) is the best solution.

Example 1: Bold a Specific Word in Selected Cells

Sub BoldSpecificWord()
    Dim rng As Range
    Dim cell As Range
    Dim word As String
    Dim pos As Integer
    
    word = "Excel" ' Define the word to bold
    Set rng = Selection ' Define the selected range
    
    For Each cell In rng
        pos = InStr(1, cell.Value, word, vbTextCompare)
        If pos > 0 Then
            cell.Characters(Start:=pos, Length:=Len(word)).Font.Bold = True
        End If
    Next cell
End Sub

Steps to Run the VBA Code:

1. Press Alt + F11 to open the VBA editor.
2. Click Insert > Module.
3. Paste the above code into the module.
4. Close the editor and go back to Excel.
5. Select the range of cells where you want to bold the word.
6. Press Alt + F8, select BoldSpecificWord, and click Run.

This macro will search for the word “Excel” in the selected cells and bold it automatically.

Example 2: Bold a User-Defined Word

If you want the user to input the word dynamically, modify the code as follows:

Sub BoldUserDefinedWord()
    Dim rng As Range
    Dim cell As Range
    Dim word As String
    Dim pos As Integer
    
    word = InputBox("Enter the word to bold:", "Bold Specific Word")
    If word = "" Then Exit Sub
    
    Set rng = Selection
    
    For Each cell In rng
        pos = InStr(1, cell.Value, word, vbTextCompare)
        If pos > 0 Then
            cell.Characters(Start:=pos, Length:=Len(word)).Font.Bold = True
        End If
    Next cell
End Sub

This allows users to input any word they want to bold.

Conclusion

If you need to bold a specific word in a single cell, doing it manually is easy. However, for multiple cells, VBA provides an efficient solution. If you only need to highlight entire cells, Conditional Formatting works well. Power Query can help with structuring data, but it does not apply direct formatting. Choose the method that best fits your needs!

see more:

• VBA Program to Swap Values ​​Between Two Excel Cells
• 3 formulas to find the first Monday of the month in Excel