This article shows you how to use Microsoft Word's "Find and Replace" feature to search for specific words in a document. This Word tool also allows you to automatically replace one word with another.
Steps
Method 1 of 2: Windows
Step 1. Open the Microsoft Word document to edit
You can double-click the document icon or you can select the file from the list of recent documents you have open within Word (assuming it's one you've been working on recently).
Step 2. Place the text cursor at the beginning of the document
Click the point to the left of the first word in the document, so that the text cursor is positioned correctly. The "Find and Replace" function searches for the indicated word only within the portion of the document that is after the text cursor.
If you need to search within a specific section of the file (rather than the entire document), select it with the mouse
Step 3. Click the Home tab
It is colored blue and is located at the top left of the Word ribbon which is visible in the top area of the window.
Step 4. Click the Find option
It is located within the "Edit" group of the "Home" tab of the Word ribbon. This will bring up a search bar on the left side of the program window.
Step 5. Type the word you want to search for and press the Enter key
This will highlight the occurrences of the word searched for in the document.
Step 6. Click the ▼ button or ▲.
Both are located at the bottom right of the search bar. By pressing the two buttons indicated, the text cursor will be positioned on the next or previous occurrence of the searched word.
Alternatively, you can also click one of the indicators that appeared in the document scroll bar
Step 7. Click the icon
It is located on the right of the search bar. A drop-down menu will appear.
Step 8. Click the Replace option
It is one of the items listed in the menu that appeared. The "Find and Replace" dialog box will appear.
Step 9. Type the word to use in the "Replace with" field
It is located at the bottom of the "Find and Replace" window. In this step you should use the word that will replace the one indicated in the "Find" field.
Step 10. Click the Replace All button
It is located at the bottom of the "Find and Replace" window. All occurrences of the word you searched for will be replaced with the one indicated in the "Replace with" field.
- For example, enter the word "Banana" in the "Find" field, then enter the word "Platano" in the "Replace with" field and press the button Replace everything if you want Word to automatically replace all occurrences of the word "banana", identified within the entire file or a portion of the text, with the word "plane tree".
- If you need to perform the replacement only in some cases and not for all the identified occurrences, you will have to click on the button Replace and analyze all the items found one at a time. Before you can perform this step, you may need to reposition the text cursor at the beginning of the document.
Method 2 of 2: Mac
Step 1. Open the Microsoft Word document to edit
You can double-click the document icon or you can select the file from the list of recent documents you have open within Word (assuming it's one you've been working on recently).
Step 2. Place the text cursor at the beginning of the document
Click the point to the left of the first word in the document, so that the text cursor is positioned correctly. The "Find and Replace" function searches for the indicated word only within the portion of the document that is after the text cursor.
If you need to search within a specific section of the file (rather than the entire document), select it with the mouse
Step 3. Click the Home tab
It is colored blue and is located in the upper left of the Word ribbon which is visible in the upper area of the window.
Step 4. Click the search field
It's located at the far right of the Word ribbon.
Step 5. Type the word you want to search for and press the Enter key
This will highlight the occurrences of the word searched for in the document.
Step 6. Click the ► button or ◄.
Both are located to the right of the search bar. By acting on the two buttons indicated, the text cursor will be positioned on the next or previous occurrence of the searched word and present in the document.
Step 7. Click the icon
It is located to the right of the magnifying glass icon located on the left side of the search bar. A drop-down menu will appear.
Step 8. Click the Replace option
It is one of the items listed in the menu that appeared. A panel will appear on the left side of the Word window.
Step 9. Type a word into the "Replace with" text field
It is located at the top of the "Find and Replace" pane. In this step you should use the word that will replace the one you searched for.
Step 10. Click the Replace All button
It is located below the "Replace with" text field. In this way, all occurrences of the word you searched for will be replaced with the one typed in the "Replace with" field.
- For example, if the word you searched for is "banana" and you want to replace it with "plane tree", type this last word in the "Replace with" field and click on the button Replace everything. This will replace all occurrences of the word "banana" with the word "plane tree".
- If you need to perform the replacement only in some cases and not for all the identified occurrences, you will have to click on the button Replace and analyze all the items found one at a time. Before you can perform this step you may need to reposition the text cursor at the beginning of the document.
Advice
- You can directly open the "Find and Replace" window by pressing the key combination Ctrl + H (on Windows) or ⌘ Command + H (on Mac).
- If the document you are working on is very long, the "Find and Replace" function may take some time to locate the text you are looking for. At any time it is possible to cancel the search in progress by pressing the "Esc" key on the keyboard.
- The "Find and Replace" function, in addition to searching for simple text, is also useful for identifying special characters or characters related to document formatting.
