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# Quick Tip: Instant Find in the VBA IDE
- URL: https://nolongerset.com/instant-find/
- Published: 2024-05-01T14:12:10.000Z
- Updated: 2026-05-08T12:40:09.000Z
- Description: Somehow I went more than 20 years writing code in VBA without knowing about this handy shortcut key.
- Author: Mike Wolfe
- Tags: Quick Tip, #Import 2026-05-20 02:59

## tl;dr: \[Ctrl\] + \[F3\]

Press \[**Ctrl**\] + \[**F3**\] in the VBA IDE to cycle through all instances of the current word within the same code module.

## Additional Details

This tip comes to us from longtime Access MVP, Karl Donaubauer, who casually mentioned it in [one of his rebuttals](https://nolongerset.com/premature-declaration/#commento-comment-card-0ac8e57268522eb9ff77779db7f88644431b9abba721fc4b4360ff2a7a08e640) to my [article](https://nolongerset.com/premature-declaration/) on declaring variables closest to their first use:

> I maintain that the variable is more noticeable if it is clearly visible at the beginning of the procedure and is quickly checked from there with Ctrl+F3 or similar. But that brings us back to the area of taste/style.

I've been working with VBA for well over 20 years, but I did not know about that shortcut key until I read Karl's comment. Apparently, it's a very well-kept secret, as it does not even appear on this (not quite!) [exhaustive list of VBA shortcut keys](https://www.howtoexcel.org/vba-keyboard-shortcuts/):

[The Complete List of VBA Keyboard Shortcuts in Microsoft Excel | How To Excel![](https://cdn-5a6cb102f911c811e474f1cd.closte.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/cropped-Lightbulb-Spreadsheet-Logo-Icon-Filled-192x192.png)How To Excel](https://www.howtoexcel.org/vba-keyboard-shortcuts/)

## How It Works

You don't even need to have the whole word selected. Simply place the cursor within the word you want to search for and press \[Ctrl\] + \[F3\]. The VBA editor will immediately find the next instance of that word within the same code module and select it.

Here are some other notes about the feature:

- If there are no other instances of the word, the current word gets selected but nothing else happens.
- The search wraps around to the beginning of the module if you press Ctrl + F3 on the last instance of the word.
- The search is limited to the current code module, but is otherwise unaffected by scope.
- The feature works within code comments.
- If you have multiple words selected, it will perform an immediate search of the entire phrase.
- \[Shift\] + \[Ctrl\] + \[F3\] searches backwards.
- Backward searching does not automatically wrap around. Instead, you get the dialog box shown below:

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/eb/d7/ebd732c1-5f03-4f07-b386-5d08557e15c9/content/images/2024/05/image.png)

*Special thanks to Karl Donaubauer for bringing this feature to my attention.*