Find and replace text
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Go to Home > Replace.
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Enter the word or phrase you want to replace in Find what.
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Enter your new text in Replace with.
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Choose Replace All to change all occurrences of the word or phrase. Or, select Find Next until you find the one you want to update, and then choose Replace.
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To specify only upper or lowercase in your search, select More > Match case. There are several other ways to search in this menu.
For other options, see Find and replace text
Find and replace basic text
In the upper-right corner of the document, in the search box , type the word or phrase that you want to find, and Word will highlight all instances of the word or phrase throughout the document.
To replace found text:
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Select the magnifying glass, and then select Replace.
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In the Replace With box, type the replacement text.
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Select Replace All or Replace.
Tips:
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You can also open the basic Find and Replace pane with the keyboard shortcut CONTROL + H.
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When you replace text, it’s a good idea to select Replace instead of Replace All. That way you can review each item before replacing it.
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You can find text with special formatting, such as bold or highlight, by using the Format menu.
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Select View > Navigation Pane.
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In the Navigation Pane, select the magnifying glass.
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Select Settings , and then select Advanced Find & Replace.
Notes:
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Select the arrow at the bottom of the Find and Replace dialog box to show all options.
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On the Format menu, select the option that you want.
If a second dialog box opens, select the options that you want, and then select OK.
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In the Find and Replace dialog box, select Find Next or Find All.
You can find and replace text with special formatting, such as bold or highlight, by using the Format menu.
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Select View > Navigation Pane.
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In the Navigation Pane, select the magnifying glass.
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Select Settings , and then select Advanced Find & Replace.
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At the top of the dialog box, select Replace.
Notes:
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Select the arrow at the bottom of the Find and Replace dialog box to show all options.
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On the Find what box, type the text that you want to find.
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On the Format menu, select the formatting that you want to find.
If a second dialog box opens, select the options that you want, and then select OK.
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Select in the box next to Replace with.
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On the Format menu, select the replacement formatting. If a second dialog box appears, select the formats that you want, and then select OK.
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Select Replace, Replace All, or Find Next.
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Select View > Navigation Pane.
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In the Navigation Pane, select the magnifying glass.
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Select Settings , and then select Advanced Find & Replace.
Notes:
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Select the arrow at the bottom of the Find and Replace dialog box to show all options.
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On the Special menu, select the special character that you want to find.
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Select Find Next.
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Select View > Navigation Pane.
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In the Navigation Pane, select the magnifying glass.
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Select Settings , and then select Advanced Find & Replace.
Notes:
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Select the arrow at the bottom of the Find and Replace dialog box to show all options.
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At the top of the Find and Replace dialog box, select Replace and then select in the Find What box, but don’t type anything there. Later, when you select a special character, Word will automatically put the character code in the box for you.
Note: Select the arrow at the bottom of the Find and Replace dialog box to show all options.
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On the Special menu, select the special character that you want to find.
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Select in the Replace with box.
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On the Special menu, select the special character that you want to use as a replacement.
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Select Replace or Find Next.
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Select View > Navigation Pane.
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In the Navigation Pane, select the magnifying glass.
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Select Settings , and then select Advanced Find & Replace.
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Select the Use wildcards check box.
If you don’t see the Use wildcards check box, select .
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Select the Special menu, select a wildcard character, and then type any additional text in the Find what box.
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Select Find Next.
Tips:
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To cancel a search in progress, press + PERIOD.
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You can also enter a wildcard character directly in the Find what box instead of selecting an item from the Special pop-up menu.
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To search for a character that’s defined as a wildcard character, type a backslash () before the character. For example, type ? to find a question mark.
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You can use parentheses to group the wildcard characters and text and to indicate the order of evaluation. For example, search for <(pre)*(ed)> to find «presorted» and «prevented.»
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You can search for an expression and use the n wildcard character to replace the search string with the rearranged expression. For example, type (Newman) (Belinda) in the Find what box and 2 1 in the Replace with box. Word will find «Newman Belinda» and replace it with «Belinda Newman.»
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To replace found text:
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Select the Replace tab, and then select the Replace with box.
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Select Special, select a wildcard character, and then type any additional text in the Replace with box.
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Select Replace All, Replace, or Find Next.
Tip: When you replace text, it’s a good idea to select Replace instead of Replace All. That way you can confirm each replacement to make sure that it’s correct.
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You can refine a search by using any of the following wildcard characters.
To find |
Use this |
For example |
---|---|---|
Any single character |
? |
s?t finds «sat» and «set.» |
Any string of characters |
* |
s*d finds «sad» and «started.» |
One of the specified characters |
[ ] |
w[io]n finds «win» and «won.» |
Any single character in this range |
[-] |
[r-t]ight finds «right» and «sight» and «tight.» Ranges must be in ascending order. |
Any single character except the characters inside the brackets |
[!] |
m[!a]st finds «mist» and «most» but not «mast.» |
Any single character except characters in the range inside the brackets |
[!x-z] |
t[!a-m]ck finds «tock» and «tuck» but not «tack» or «tick.» Ranges must be in ascending order. |
Exactly n occurrences of a character or expression |
{ n} |
fe{2}d finds «feed» but not «fed.» |
At least n occurrences of a character or expression |
{ n,} |
fe{1,}d finds «fed» and «feed.» |
A range of occurrences of a character or expression |
{ n, n} |
10{1,3} finds «10,» «100,» and «1000.» |
One or more occurrences of a character or expression |
@ |
lo@t finds «lot» and «loot.» |
The beginning of a word |
< |
<(inter) finds «interesting» and «intercept» but not «splintered.» |
The end of a word |
> |
(in)> finds «in» and «within,» but not «interesting.» |
Word for the web lets you find and replace basic text. You can match case or fine whole words only. For more varied options, open your document in Word for the desktop.
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Find and replace text
- Go to Home > Replace or press Ctrl+H.
- Enter the word or phrase you want to locate in the Find box.
- Enter your new text in the Replace box.
- Select Find Next until you come to the word you want to update.
- Choose Replace. To update all instances at once, choose Replace All.
Contents
- 1 Can I replace multiple words in word?
- 2 How do you replace multiple characters in word?
- 3 Can you find and replace in multiple word documents?
- 4 How do you select all in Word?
- 5 How do you replace words without caps in Word?
- 6 What is Ctrl +H?
- 7 What is the use of Find and Replace option in MS word?
- 8 How do you change the text so it is justified?
- 9 What is Match Case option?
- 10 Where is Advanced Find and Replace in Word?
- 11 How do I find and replace a space in Word?
- 12 How do I format multiple Word documents at once?
- 13 How do you search multiple Word documents at once?
- 14 How do I select all text without clicking and dragging?
- 15 What is shortcut key for select all?
- 16 How do I stop Word from selecting everything?
- 17 How do I get all capital letters in word?
- 18 How do you capitalize multiple words in word?
- 19 How do I use Match case in word?
- 20 What is Control G?
Can I replace multiple words in word?
Open an existing Word document and press “Control” and “H” keys simultaneously. Word will display the “Find and Replace” dialog box. Replacing one word with another is one way of changing multiple words in Word.
How do you replace multiple characters in word?
2: Replace multiple spaces with a tab
- Press [Ctrl]+H.
- In the Find What control, enter a single space, followed by {2,}.
- In the Replace With control, enter ^t, which represents a single tab mark.
- Click the More button and check the Use Wildcards option, as shown in Figure A.
- Click Replace All.
Can you find and replace in multiple word documents?
Run MS Word Find and Replace In Multiple Documents Software.To add all files in a folder, click “Add All Word Files in Folder” then select a folder. 3. For single find and replace option, just input “Find What” and “Replace With” in the textbox.
How do you select all in Word?
Select all text
- Click anywhere within the document.
- Press Ctrl+A on your keyboard to select all text in the document.
How do you replace words without caps in Word?
Word immediately selects all of the words that match the pattern you specified in step 2. Press Esc to get rid of the Find and Replace dialog box. Your words should all still be selected. Press Shift+F3 as many times as necessary to get the capitalization the way you want it for the selected words.
What is Ctrl +H?
Alternatively referred to as Control H and C-h, Ctrl+H is a shortcut key that varies depending on the program being used. For example, in most text programs, Ctrl+H is used to find and replace text in a file. In an Internet browser, Ctrl+H may open the history.
What is the use of Find and Replace option in MS word?
Find and Replace is a function in Word that allows you to search for target text (whether it be a particular word, type of formatting or string of wildcard characters) and replace it with something else.
How do you change the text so it is justified?
Justify text
- In the Paragraph group, click the Dialog Box Launcher. , and select the Alignment drop-down menu to set your justified text.
- You can also use the keyboard shortcut, Ctrl + J to justify your text.
What is Match Case option?
The “Match case” option will find only those instances that are written the same way: for example, if you search for “Word” and set “Match case”, Apache OpenOffice will find “Word”, “Words”, “Wording”… but not “word”.
Where is Advanced Find and Replace in Word?
You can access Find and Replace by opening a Word file and heading to the Home tab on the ribbon. Then, click the arrow next to the Find button and select Advanced Find. Alternately, just click Replace. You can also use the Ctrl + H keyboard shortcut to open the Replace window directly.
How do I find and replace a space in Word?
How to Quickly Remove Double Spaces in Word
- Hit CTRL+A to select all the text in the document.
- Hit CTRL+H to open the Find and Replace window.
- Type two spaces in the Find what field.
- Type one space in the Replace with field.
- Click Replace All.
How do I format multiple Word documents at once?
Quickly Formatting Multiple Documents
- Choose the Templates and Add-Ins option from the Tools menu.
- Using the Attach button, locate and select the template you want attached to the current document.
- Make sure the Automatically Update Document Styles check box is selected.
- Click on OK.
How do you search multiple Word documents at once?
Let’s look at the top 5 options for searching text in multiple Word documents.
- SeekFast. The easiest and most convenient tool for searching text in multiple Word files is SeekFast.
- File Explorer. File Explorer is the built-in Windows program for working with files.
- PowerGrep.
- Agent Ransack.
- DocFetcher.
How do I select all text without clicking and dragging?
Click the “Select” drop-down menu in the Editing group on the ribbon and choose “Select All.” All of the body text on the pages will be highlighted. You can now format it, cut, copy, align the text and more. The keyboard shortcut “Ctrl-A” will accomplish the same result.
What is shortcut key for select all?
Ctrl+A
Select all of the text in your document or on your screen by holding down the “Ctrl” key and pressing the letter “A”. 18 Tech Support Reps Are Online! Microsoft Answers Today: 65. Remember the “Select All” shortcut (“Ctrl+A“) by associating the letter “A” with the word “All”.
How do I stop Word from selecting everything?
Go to File, Options, then Advanced. Look for the option When selecting, automatically select entire word (it is enabled by default). You can disable the ‘feature’ by deselecting it (checkbox).
How do I get all capital letters in word?
Firstly, click the arrow button next to “Find” command under “Home” tab. Then click “Advanced Find” to open the “Find and Replace” box. Next place cursor at the “Find what” text box. Enter “[A-Z]{2,}” to find all words with all letter capitalized.
How do you capitalize multiple words in word?
Or use Word’s keyboard shortcut, Shift + F3 on Windows or fn + Shift + F3 for Mac, to change selected text between lowercase, UPPERCASE or capitalizing each word.
How do I use Match case in word?
If you want, you can have it match the word down to the letter case. To match the letter case, select the ‘Match case’ option. Click the Less button to hide these options, and then click ‘Find Next’ to start searching.
What is Control G?
Alternatively known as Control+G and C-g, Ctrl+G is a keyboard shortcut often used to advance through Find results or move to a specific line in a document, spreadsheet, or text file.Ctrl+G in Chrome, Firefox, Edge, and Opera. Ctrl+G in Excel and other spreadsheet programs.
Exchange one text string for another in any version of Word
Updated on October 29, 2021
What to Know
- Open the Find and Replace tool in Word with the keyboard shortcut CTRL+H.
- Find and Replace doesn’t take capitalization into account unless you specifically tell it to.
- To replace capitalization, select More in the Find and Replace box, then Match Case > Replace or Replace All > OK.
All editions of Microsoft Word offer a feature called Find and Replace. Use this tool to search for a specific word, number, or phrase in a document and replace it with something else. You can also make several replacements at once—like changing a name or fixing something you’ve consistently misspelled. Use it, also, to replace numbers or punctuation and cap or uncap words.
If you turn on Track Changes before you begin, you can reject the replacement or deletion of any unintended word.
Find and Replace a Word
The Microsoft Word Find and Replace dialog box, in its simplest form, prompts you to type the word you’re looking for and the word you want to replace it with. Then, click Replace, and either allow Word to change every entry for you or, go through them one at a time.
To open the tool, press Ctrl+H (Cmd+H on Mac).
Change Capitalization in Microsoft Word
The Find and Replace feature doesn’t take into account anything about capitalization unless you specifically tell it to. To get to that option you’ll need to click the More option in the Find and Replace dialog box:
- Open the Find and Replace dialog box using your favorite method. We prefer Ctrl+H.
- Click More.
- Type the appropriate entry in the Find What and Replace With lines.
- Click Match Case.
- Click Replace and Replace again, or, click Replace All.
- Click OK.
Advanced Options
When you select the More expander in the Search and Replace dialog box, you’ll encounter several customizations. The list of items varies according to which version of Word you’re running.
Search Options
Select the check boxes to include or exclude things like punctuation, white-space characters, or substrings. Plus, apply tools like word-form matching (i.e., walked also matches walking) and Soundex matching (Karin matches Karen).
Replace Options
Word supports more advanced substitutions, too. Use special characters to substitute text markup with symbols. For example, replace a character code like & with an ampersand. This approach is useful for de-cluttering pasted HTML text that uses HTML codes to render certain symbols.
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Often when working in Microsoft Word we only need to change one or two words in the file to make it relevant to another client or project. For Example, updating a client’s name in a 30-page contract or updating the address of a company or speakers name in a briefing document.
Because scrolling through your document changing each word individually would be a tedious and time-consuming task Microsoft has built-in a hand tool called ‘Find and Replace’.
Find and Replace allows you to replace one word with another, across the entirety of your Microsoft Word Document at the click of a button.
There is no limit to how many times you can use this tool, but it does need to be done word by word, we can’t yet find and replace multiple words at once. But still, it’s a huge time saver and will guarantee you don’t miss a word that needs replacing.
In this post we will show you how to use the Find and Replace tool in Microsoft Word and leave you updating your document in seconds.
Using Microsoft Word’s Find and Replace
- Open Word
- Find and click Edit in the Home bar
- Under Edit click Find
- In the Find tab press Replace….
- This will open a navigation box on the left-hand side of your Word Document
- Type the word you wish to replace in the Find box
- Type the word you wish to replace this word with, in the second text box
- Choose Replace. To replace all instances at the same time, select Replace All.
- Press OK.
You have no successfully used Words Find and Replace feature to update your Microsoft Word Document.
Advanced Word Replacement
If your word search shows multiple options, as shown below.
You can scroll through the highlighted words until you find the word you would like to replace. This will narrow down the word search and ensure you only replace the exact word you are looking for.
Looking for an easier solution to your collaboration frustrations?
When collaborating in Microsoft Word, your email inbox can quickly become filled with updated versions of a document being sent back and forward between colleagues.
John made an edit, sent an email ‘see updated attached’.
Then Lucy made an edit, sent an email 30minutes later ‘updated version attached’, and it goes on for days.
Sending updated versions via email is one way to know a new version is available and required your attention. But it can also clutter your inbox with internal emails, with a single line or sometimes nobody of text in the email.
The alternative is to send them via a group chat channel such as Slack or Microsoft Teams, but you should make a new channel for the document updates so that you don’t miss one, or lose it in an open channel as other conversations start happening around the document being sent.
With overflowing inboxes and your slack channel constantly telling you there are un-read messages there needs to be a solution for collaborating alone. Somewhere your updated versions can live in peace, with no other noise around them to allow you to easily review and check them at any time.
The solution is here and it comes in the form of a great new purpose-built tool called Simul Docs.
Simul was built just for Microsoft Word and for you, to help you collaborate with ease.
First and foremost, Simul will store and manage every version of your document in an easy to navigate toolbar that you can access from anywhere you have an internet connection (or offline if you do a quick download before losing your connection).
As a new version of your document is created, Simul will automatically save the file under a numerical version number that makes sense. The first version is named 0.0.1, the second 0.0.2, the third 0.0.3 and so on. Making it easy for you to keep track of how many versions have been made and which one is the most recent.
But what about any extra notes or comments the author wanted to make, ones they would usually put in the email such as ‘Tim, this is my final round of edits before we send onto client’? No worries, Simul allows you to add comments and notes to any version as well, so your team can see what is going on at all times.
Speaking of comments and notes, Simul will also track every comment, change or edit made to a version for you, without you having to remember to turn tracked changes on. That’s pretty cool, right?
So a tool that manages your version control, saves your files and stores them and tracks all of your edits and changes without you thinking about any of it, it sounds too good to be true or as though it would be difficult to use or implement. Well, don’t worry it’s not, it’s here and it is called Simul Docs and it’s so easy to use, after walking through the in-app tutorial we had it down within 3 minutes.
It’s a bit like an apple product, it just makes sense. It’s clean and simple, nothing too complicated, but with everything you need all in the one spot.
If you’re not convinced already, head over to Simul now and give their free trial a go.
Collaboration just got a whole lot easier with Simul Docs.
Many of the applications that you use every day will have a way for you to search through the text that appears on the screen or in the file that is currently open. Often this will be accessible by choosing a “Find” option from a menu or using the Ctrl + F keyboard shortcut.
Sometimes you will make a mistake when you are typing a document, but you won’t realize your mistake until long after it has already happened.
Going back and manually fixing that mistake can be time-consuming if it has happened a lot, and you may inadvertently miss something.
Fortunately, Word 2013 has a function that allows you to automatically replace every occurrence of a word in your document with a different word. So if you incorrectly used a term multiple times throughout a document, it is a simple matter to replace that word with a different one.
- Click the Home tab.
- Click the Replace button in the Editing section of the ribbon.
- Type the word to replace into the Find what field.
- Type the replacement word to use into the Replace with field, then click the Replace All button.
Our guide continues below with more information on replacing all occurrences of a word in Microsoft Word, including pictures of these steps.
How to Replace a Word with a Different Word in Word 2013 (Guide with Pictures)
We are going to cover the very basics of this feature first, then we are going to show you how to customize it a little bit to prevent Word from accidentally replacing parts of a Word that match your criteria.
Step 1: Open your document in Word 2013.
Step 2: Click the Home tab at the top of the window.
Step 3: Click the Replace button in the Editing section on the right side of the ribbon.
Step 4: Type the word that you want to replace into the Find what field, then type the word that you want to use to replace it into the Replace with field. Click the Replace All button at the bottom of the window when you are finished.
The problem you may run into with the feature is that it is replacing that text string, not just occurrences of the word. So if you are replacing “xxx” with “yyy”, but you have the word “xxxa” in your document, then it will also be changed to “yyya”. Fortunately, there is a way to prevent this.
How to Use Find and Replace in Word 2013 to Only Replace Whole Words
The steps in this section are going to modify the previous section slightly to prevent Word from replacing text strings that appear within other words.
Step 1: Click the More button at the bottom of the Find and Replace window.
Step 2: Click the box to the left of Find whole words only.
You will notice that there are many other options on this menu that you can also use to customize the replace function. For example, using the Match case option would only replace words that were in the same case. This option allows you to replace instances of “John” while ignoring “JOHN”.
This tool becomes even more powerful when you include the Format and Special options at the bottom of the window, which allows you to find and replace information based on the type of formatting that has been applied to it. This is a very powerful, customizable tool that will let you find and replace in almost any way that you might need.
How Can I Get to the Find and Replace Dialog Box in Microsoft Word 2013?
As we have discussed in earlier sections of this document you will find Word’s find and replace feature if you select the Home tab at the top of the window, then click Replace in the Editing group in the window.
But you can also find and replace text by using the Ctrl + H keyboard shortcut to open the Find and Replace box. When you use this shortcut rather than the Ctrl + F option to find a specific word in your document then the window will open with the Replace tab as the active tab.
This can be a little faster as it cuts out the part of the process where you need to choose Replace if you had selected the Advanced Find option from the menu.
More Information on How to Replace All Occurrences of a Word in Word 2013
The steps in the article above provide you with the means to quickly find and replace a word that appears multiple times within your Microsoft Word document. That assumes that the word is spelled the same way each time, otherwise, Word is going to miss those misspellings.
You may wish to use the spell checker before you do this so that Word can catch spelling mistakes so it doesn’t overlook a misspelled version of the word.
All of the advanced find and replace options that appear on the Find and Replace window after you click More are:
- Match case
- Find whole words only
- Use wildcards
- Sounds like (English)
- Find all word forms (English)
- Match prefix
- Match suffix
- Ignore punctuation characters
- Ignore white-space characters
As you can see, this tool has a lot of different variables that you can apply which will enable you to find and replace almost any string of text or word that you might want to change within your document.
MS Word has been updating both the find and replace option for years to the point where it has become an incredibly powerful and useful way to find text or find words and quickly search through your document content. In newer versions of Word when you click the Find button or press Ctrl + F on your keyboard it will open a Navigation pane at the left side of the window. If you just need to find individual instances of a word or phrase ion long documents then this can be a life saver.
You always have the open to press Ctrl + H to open the Find and Replace window in newer versions of Word, however, if you prefer the replace or find box over the new Navigation pane.
Did you know that there is a freehand drawing tool in Word 2013? Find out how to draw in Word 2013 if you need to add a shape to a drawing that you can’t replicate with one of the other options.
Additional Sources
Matthew Burleigh has been writing tech tutorials since 2008. His writing has appeared on dozens of different websites and been read over 50 million times.
After receiving his Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Computer Science he spent several years working in IT management for small businesses. However, he now works full time writing content online and creating websites.
His main writing topics include iPhones, Microsoft Office, Google Apps, Android, and Photoshop, but he has also written about many other tech topics as well.
Read his full bio here.