How to Use "Find" and "Find and Replace" Features in Microsoft Word Documents
Decide how much of the document you wish to search., Display the "Find and Replace" dialog box., Enter the text to search for in the "Find what:" dropdown field., Check the boxes for any search options you want to use., Choose how much of the...
Step-by-Step Guide
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Step 1: Decide how much of the document you wish to search.
If you want to search only a portion of the Word document, highlight the portion you wish to search by holding down your left mouse button and dragging over it with your cursor.
To search the entire document, proceed to the next step. -
Step 2: Display the "Find and Replace" dialog box.
The "Find and Replace" dialog is a tabbed dialog box, where you enter the text or formatting you're looking for.
In Word 2003, display the "Find and Replace" dialog by selecting "Find" from the Edit menu.
In Word 2007, display the "Find and Replace" dialog by selecting "Find" from the Find dropdown in the Editing group in the Home menu ribbon In Word 2010, display the "Find and Replace" dialog by selecting "Advanced Find" from the Find dropdown Editing group in the Home menu ribbon. (Selecting "Find" will display the Navigation Pane, which has different document search capabilities than the "Find and Replace" dialog does.) You can also display the "Find and Replace" dialog by pressing the "Ctrl" and "H" keys on your keyboard. , If you are looking for a word or phrase you've looked for previously, you can click the down arrow at the right edge of the field and then select the desired word or phrase from the previous entries listed in the dropdown list. , Word can do more than search for the exact text in the form you typed it into the "Find what:" field.
You can select from a number of search options to broaden or restrict your search.
Each option is listed on the Find page of the "Find and Replace" dialog with a checkbox in front of it.
If you don't see the options list, click the "More >>" button to display them.
A partial list is given below.
Match case.
Check this option to look only for text typed in the same case as what you typed in the "Find what:" field.
Checking this box will force the search to ignore "Match" and "MATCH" when you type in "match." Match whole words only.
Check this option to look only for a text string when it appears in a word by itself, not when it appears as part of another word.
Checking this box means that the string "match" will be ignored when it appears in such words as "matching" or "matchless." Sounds like.
Check this option to find homophones of the word you typed in.
If you typed in "fair," this option would also find instances of "fare." Find all word forms.
Check this option to find singular, plural, present tense, past tense, and participle forms of the word you're searching for.
If you check this option, typing "matched" will also find "match" and "matching." Ignore punctuation characters.
Check this option to ignore the distinction between words with punctuation in them and words without it.
If you check this option, typing "can't" (contraction of "can not") will also find "cant" (a synonym for "angle").
Ignore white space characters.
Check this option to ignore intervening spaces between characters in the text string.
If you check this option, typing "cannot" will also find instances of "can not." Using this option together with "Ignore punctuation characters" can help you check for consistency in rendering a word that may be rendered as a compound word, a hyphenated word, or as 2 words. , Click "Find In" and select "Current Selection" to search only the portion of the text you highlighted or "Main Document" to search the entire document. (If you did not select any text, this will be the only available option.) , Clicking "Find Next" will highlight the first instance following the cursor position in your document that matches the text you typed in the "Find what:" field.
By clicking "Find Next" again, you will jump to the next instance.
If you want to find all instances at once, in Word 2003, check the "All items found in" box; all instances will be highlighted. (To turn the feature off, click anywhere in the document.) In Word 2007 and 2010, click "Reading Highlight" and select "Highlight All." To turn off the highlight, click "Reading Highlight" again and select "Clear Highlighting." Use this feature to find overuses of a particular word in your document, so that you can systematically go through the text, either deleting unnecessary uses or replacing the word with a synonym. -
Step 3: Enter the text to search for in the "Find what:" dropdown field.
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Step 4: Check the boxes for any search options you want to use.
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Step 5: Choose how much of the document you wish to search.
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Step 6: Click the "Find Next" button.
Detailed Guide
If you want to search only a portion of the Word document, highlight the portion you wish to search by holding down your left mouse button and dragging over it with your cursor.
To search the entire document, proceed to the next step.
The "Find and Replace" dialog is a tabbed dialog box, where you enter the text or formatting you're looking for.
In Word 2003, display the "Find and Replace" dialog by selecting "Find" from the Edit menu.
In Word 2007, display the "Find and Replace" dialog by selecting "Find" from the Find dropdown in the Editing group in the Home menu ribbon In Word 2010, display the "Find and Replace" dialog by selecting "Advanced Find" from the Find dropdown Editing group in the Home menu ribbon. (Selecting "Find" will display the Navigation Pane, which has different document search capabilities than the "Find and Replace" dialog does.) You can also display the "Find and Replace" dialog by pressing the "Ctrl" and "H" keys on your keyboard. , If you are looking for a word or phrase you've looked for previously, you can click the down arrow at the right edge of the field and then select the desired word or phrase from the previous entries listed in the dropdown list. , Word can do more than search for the exact text in the form you typed it into the "Find what:" field.
You can select from a number of search options to broaden or restrict your search.
Each option is listed on the Find page of the "Find and Replace" dialog with a checkbox in front of it.
If you don't see the options list, click the "More >>" button to display them.
A partial list is given below.
Match case.
Check this option to look only for text typed in the same case as what you typed in the "Find what:" field.
Checking this box will force the search to ignore "Match" and "MATCH" when you type in "match." Match whole words only.
Check this option to look only for a text string when it appears in a word by itself, not when it appears as part of another word.
Checking this box means that the string "match" will be ignored when it appears in such words as "matching" or "matchless." Sounds like.
Check this option to find homophones of the word you typed in.
If you typed in "fair," this option would also find instances of "fare." Find all word forms.
Check this option to find singular, plural, present tense, past tense, and participle forms of the word you're searching for.
If you check this option, typing "matched" will also find "match" and "matching." Ignore punctuation characters.
Check this option to ignore the distinction between words with punctuation in them and words without it.
If you check this option, typing "can't" (contraction of "can not") will also find "cant" (a synonym for "angle").
Ignore white space characters.
Check this option to ignore intervening spaces between characters in the text string.
If you check this option, typing "cannot" will also find instances of "can not." Using this option together with "Ignore punctuation characters" can help you check for consistency in rendering a word that may be rendered as a compound word, a hyphenated word, or as 2 words. , Click "Find In" and select "Current Selection" to search only the portion of the text you highlighted or "Main Document" to search the entire document. (If you did not select any text, this will be the only available option.) , Clicking "Find Next" will highlight the first instance following the cursor position in your document that matches the text you typed in the "Find what:" field.
By clicking "Find Next" again, you will jump to the next instance.
If you want to find all instances at once, in Word 2003, check the "All items found in" box; all instances will be highlighted. (To turn the feature off, click anywhere in the document.) In Word 2007 and 2010, click "Reading Highlight" and select "Highlight All." To turn off the highlight, click "Reading Highlight" again and select "Clear Highlighting." Use this feature to find overuses of a particular word in your document, so that you can systematically go through the text, either deleting unnecessary uses or replacing the word with a synonym.
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Hannah Johnson
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