This article is based on legacy software.
Finding Text
Word allows you to find specific text in a variety of ways. You may choose to view each occurrence of the text individually, see all occurrences selected at once, or highlight all occurrences even after the Find and Replace dialog box is closed.
Accessing the Find and Replace Dialog Box
To find text, you must first access the Find and Replace dialog box.
Finding Individual Occurrences
Access the Find and Replace dialog box
In the Find what text box, type the text you want to search for
To find more occurrences of the text, repeat step 4 NOTE: When Word has shown you every occurrence of the text, a dialog box will appear with the message “Word has finished searching the document.”
Finding All Occurrences
This option will highlight all occurrences of your text until the Find and Replace dialog box is closed.
Access the Find and Replace dialog box
In the Find what text box, type the text you want to search for
Highlighting All Occurrences
This option will highlight all occurrences of your text until you choose to clear the highlighting.
NOTE: This option is for Windows only.
To highlight all occurrences:
Access the Find and Replace dialog box
In the Find what text box, type the text you want to search for
Select the desired options
To clear all highlighting:
Access the Find and Replace dialog box
Replacing Text
Word allows you to choose how to replace text in your document. You may choose to replace all occurrences of a particular word or phrase or look at each occurrence before deciding which to replace.
Accessing the Find and Replace Dialog Box
Replacing Individual Occurrences
Access the Find and Replace dialog box
In the Find what text box, type the text you want to be replaced
In the Replace with text box, type the text that you want to insert
Repeat step 6 until you have replaced all desired occurrences NOTE: When Word has shown you every occurrence of the text, a dialog box will appear with the message “Word has finished searching the document.”
Replacing All Occurrences
This option will replace every occurrence of your text without showing you where the text was replaced.
WARNING: Use this option with care, as it may change the meaning of your document if text is replaced where it should not be.
Access the Find and Replace dialog box
In the Find what text box, type the text you want replaced
In the Replace with text box, type the text that you want to insert
Advanced Options
Word provides additional options to further refine your search.
To access these options:
Access the Find and Replace dialog box
The following list defines the available search options:
Search Selects whether Word should search for instances of the text below the insertion point (down), above the insertion point (up), or throughout the entire document (all). The default choice is Down.
Match case Returns only those instances of the text that have the same case (i.e., uppercase or lowercase) as the text in the Find what text box.
Find whole words only Returns matching whole words only. Word will not return words that contain your text within them. EXAMPLE: If you search for the, this option will ensure that words such as theater or theme are not included in the search results.
Use wildcards By using certain characters, allows you to search for very specific words or phrases. EXAMPLE: Searching for b?ll will find words with any one character between b and ll, such as ball, bill, and bull.
Sounds like (English) Searches for both exact matches of your text and other text that may sound or look similar to your text. EXAMPLE: Searching for color will find the words collar and caller.
Find all word forms Searches for all related forms of your word. EXAMPLE: If you search for is, Word would also find the forms was and were.
Format Allows you to search for text with specific formatting, as well as replace text with specific formatting. EXAMPLE: If you search for occurrences of the word Sincerely that were in Times New Roman font, you could replace them with the words Yours Truly in Calibri font.
Special Allows you to search for special characters (e.g., dashes or paragraphs), as well as replace them in your document.
No Formatting This will clear any formatting requirements (e.g., searching for text in a specific font) that were set in previous searches.
Windows only:
Ignore punctuation characters Returns text that is similar to your text, but contains punctuation within it. EXAMPLE: If you search for recreated, your search results would also include instances of re-created.
Ignore white-space characters Finds text that is similar to your text, but may contain spaces in different places. EXAMPLE: If you search for Annamarie, your search results would also include instances of Anna Marie.