

Here, it’s found our next italicised word. Hit the “Find Next” button to have Word locate and highlight the next occurrence of whatever you’re searching for. Notice how that says “Not Bold” and “Not Italic.” You can’t use this technique to change from one type of formatting to another-just to add or remove formatting.Īt any rate, now you’re ready to search. When you’re done, you’ll see that formatting appear under the “Replace With” box. Now place your insertion point in the “Replace With” box, head back Format > Font, and this time choose the “Regular” option. For example, say you set specific paragraphs to be aligned to the left and have a particular indentation, and now you want to remove that indentation and center align those paragraphs. You’ve used a particular paragraph formatting (alignment, indentation, spacing, and so on) and you want to change that.For example, say you repeat the phrase “Little Red Riding Hood” throughout your document, and you’ve now decided you’d like that phrase to use a different font and red text. You have a particular word or phrase to which you want to apply (or change) character formatting.For example, say you used italics for emphasis, and now you want to remove that formatting. You’ve used one type of character formatting throughout your document and want to change it to another type of formatting.Here are a few examples when it might be useful: You can use Find and Replace to search for and change both character and paragraph formatting.
Microsoft word find and replace how to to limit manual#
However, there are times when Find and Replace can help you save time by applying formatting changes faster and easier than manual formatting. If you need to control what gets changed and what doesn’t more precisely, you might be better off going through your document and making those changes by hand.

For example, if you need to change the color of all text or remove all instances of bold text in your document, you can do this by selecting all (Ctrl+A) and then applying the change you want. Sometimes, it makes sense to apply formatting changes manually.

There are many ways to use Find and Replace for formatting, but when should you consider using Find and Replace instead of applying manual formatting changes or using other options like the Format Painter? When Is Finding and Replacing Formatting Useful? You can also use Find and Replace to locate specific types of formatting throughout your document and even replace that formatting with something else. Microsoft Word’s Find and Replace feature isn’t just for replacing text.
