title: Excel: How can I speed up a Find & Replace process? Changing 32,000 links per workbook
body: <p>I'm comparing a lot of data for over 30 categories. Each category workbook is saved into 'MyFolder' with it's own distinctive name (the category). The data in the workbook is found on a sheet with the same name as the category: [Category.xls]CategoryYear_Final!</p>
  
  <p>It seemed best to create a standard template that references the data and which produced the required graphs and layouts. It all worked well. The it was time to start the engines and make graphs for all the categories by amending the reference names...</p>
  
  <p>Using FIND &amp; REPLACE it's taking over 20 mins each workbook as there are over 32,000 places (two per cell) where the updates must take occur. Crikey!</p>
  
  <p>Any sugestions on how this could possibly be done more quickly, or do I just need to settle in for a solid 20 hours of watching Excel struggle through.</p>
  
  <p>Many thanks
  Michael.</p>