SEARCH locates a substring inside text without regard to uppercase/lowercase. For A3 containing PO-1047-Toronto, =SEARCH("toronto",A3) is expected to return 9 even though the cell spells Toronto with a capital T. The answer is the original text’s 1-based position. See the current official SEARCH reference.

This tutorial covers one canonical SEARCH function, not a separate page for localized names, byte-count variants or aliases. Use the formula when the goal is to locate text within another cell. Keep raw source values in column A and transformed results in another column. For exact matching against full codes or full rows, consider a lookup or validation workflow instead of mistaking a substring/position operation for a complete data-quality check.

=SEARCH(find_text, within_text, [start_num])

Official interpretation: The ONLYOFFICE SEARCH/SEARCHB page prints SEARCH(find_text, within_text, start_num) but explicitly describes start_num as optional. The bracketed form above reflects that stated optionality. The same source describes case-insensitive matching and #VALUE! if not found. SEARCHB is documented as a distinct byte-oriented variant, not another page for a spelling alias.

Square brackets are documentation notation for optional parameters; do not type them into a real formula. The = sign is required for a formula in a sheet. The function name is English because these examples follow English ONLYOFFICE help.

The current English-language ONLYOFFICE Spreadsheet Editor function index and the linked function page document this function as part of ONLYOFFICE Docs Spreadsheet Editor. Both references were checked 2026-10-11 (UTC). The function help is not scoped to a numbered product build: first-supported version = UNKNOWN from this evidence. The index is not a promise that every historical Docs edition, Desktop Editors version, embedded editor or mobile app accepts the formula. No native edition/platform has been opened during this research run.

The Docs release history and the separate Desktop Editors history were consulted as version context, not as proof of a particular introduction version for this function. A Desktop release number must not be silently treated as the Docs server version. If supporting older releases, test the exact installed build and save the result before changing the wording.

For an English formula, use = plus the uppercase function name, parentheses, commas between arguments, and straight double quotes around literal strings, as illustrated in the official function-insertion guide. ONLYOFFICE lets the user choose a Formula Language and regional settings (official Advanced Settings); localized names or argument separators should be checked in the installed editor’s Function Arguments panel. Do not assume a delimiter or English spelling is universal in every locale. The examples below use English names, comma separators, 1-based character positions and plain ASCII strings; avoid date/numeric autocorrection by formatting source cells as text where appropriate.

Open a blank ONLYOFFICE workbook. In the first sheet, enter the exact raw text below into A1:A9. The examples treat these as text, not formula expressions. Keep all results in B or C so that the original values are preserved for auditing.

Important for A5: type the literal value INV|2026|0412 using normal vertical-bar characters. The | codes in the Markdown table only keep its columns aligned; do not type those codes into the spreadsheet. In A1 type Source text as a normal header. Do not copy backticks into the worksheet.

1. Select a result cell outside column A; enter each formula shown below, starting with =.
2. Press Enter; compare it to the expected result listed for the exact row. Expected results are calculations/logic checks, not observed output from ONLYOFFICE.
3. If a result differs, check input capitalization, hidden spaces, typographic quotation marks, cell format and locale. Re-enter the formula using Formula → Function or the Function Arguments helper.
4. Use Formula → Show Formulas to distinguish formulas from literal text and, if appropriate, recalculate using the Formula tab (both operations are described in the official editor instructions).

Use the input cells exactly as shown. Type each formula into the indicated output cell (B2:B7); leaving the originals in column A avoids accidental overwrites.

How the position/occurrence reasoning was verified: these examples use literal ASCII text and independent character/substring operations. For an official expected error, such as #VALUE! on a no-match result, that classification comes from the directly cited ONLYOFFICE function documentation, not from executing the error in ONLYOFFICE. A result with a different case, extra space or character changes the test input and therefore requires a fresh expectation.

Extract a code between two separators

To extract the order digits 1047 from A3 (PO-1047-Toronto), use:

=MID(A3,SEARCH("-",A3)+1,SEARCH("-",A3,SEARCH("-",A3)+1)-SEARCH("-",A3)-1)

Expected 1047 (as text). The first hyphen is at 3; the second is at 8; the extracted string begins at 4 and contains 4 characters. MID has separate ONLYOFFICE documentation. This nested formula has not been executed in the native editor; if the source lacks a second delimiter, the example will need an error-handling branch.

Explicitly distinguish SEARCH from a validation rule

=SEARCH("on",A2) is expected to return 10 for the uppercase ON suffix, while =FIND("on",A2) is documented to produce #VALUE!. Use the right function for your desired case policy; neither formula verifies a whole-cell exact match.

1. SEARCH is not case-sensitive according to ONLYOFFICE; do not use it to enforce uppercase-only product codes.
2. No match yields #VALUE! per ONLYOFFICE. Add a deliberate error-handling branch only if your use case legitimately treats missing text as normal.
3. Third argument optionality is stated in official prose even though the printed syntax lacks brackets. Do not present start_num as mandatory.
4. The position is within the original string, not a relative offset from start_num; positions of surrogate-pair characters in non-ASCII strings are unverified.

Unresolved behaviour: Wildcard handling, exact empty string behavior, start_num out of range, desktop/mobile parity and Unicode position accounting not established for ONLYOFFICE. Testing with simple ASCII strings is intentional: no assumption is made that byte-based variants, localized spellings, or Unicode indexing behave identically.

If the editor still disagrees with the expected ASCII outputs, first verify the current formula by selecting the result cell, then confirm each literal in A2:A9 matches the practice table. A copied formula may move references unintentionally; use anchored references only when you need them. Do not alter production data to make a tutorial example appear to pass.

Microsoft Excel documents case-insensitive SEARCH and, additionally, wildcard handling using ?, *, and ~. ONLYOFFICE explicitly documents case insensitivity, but its inspected function page is silent about wildcard tokens. Therefore basic ASCII literal-search syntax is comparable; wildcard equivalence, Unicode positions and error details beyond no-match are not assumed. See Microsoft SEARCH reference and ONLYOFFICE SEARCH reference.

The compatibility statement above is limited to documented function roles and English-language syntax. No Microsoft Excel, LibreOffice, Google Sheets, Apple Numbers or ONLYOFFICE comparison formula was actually run for this batch. Avoid claiming that the same error codes, Unicode positions, wildcard language, formula separators and byte-based variants are identical across products.

FIND (case-sensitive counterpart), MID, LEFT, and IFERROR are relevant software-specific guides in the review workflow. Existing owner-source-confirmed site guide: COUNTIF helps count cells meeting a condition, a different task from finding characters in one cell.

Only an existing source-confirmed URL is linked as a local site guide. Other named related functions are review-stage references, not claims that their pages are published or currently linked on the live website.

• ONLYOFFICE Spreadsheet Editor — function documentation
• ONLYOFFICE Spreadsheet Editor function index
• Docs release history
• Desktop Editors history
• official Advanced Settings
• ONLYOFFICE documentation

Verification status: Official documentation checked; example outcomes were independently reasoned or arithmetically checked where applicable. Not executed in ONLYOFFICE Spreadsheet Editor.

• No genuine ONLYOFFICE Spreadsheet Editor screenshots are included; this guide does not use mock application images.