The Find and Replace feature in Word lets you search for text and swap it out across your whole document at once

Microsoft Word's Find and Replace tool saves you from manually hunting through pages to change a word, fix a typo, or update a name everywhere it appears. You open it with Ctrl+H on Windows or Command+Option+F on Mac, type what you want to find and what you want instead, and Word handles the rest. You can replace one instance at a time or all of them in seconds.

The feature works the same way whether you're using Word on your computer, in a web browser, or on a phone — though the phone version has fewer options. This guide covers the desktop version, where you have the most control.

Key Takeaways

  • Open Find and Replace with Ctrl+H on Windows or Command+Option+F on Mac, then type the text you want to find in the first box and the replacement text in the second.
  • Click "Replace All" to change every instance at once, or "Replace" to change them one by one so you can skip any you want to keep.
  • Use "Match case" if you need to find only uppercase or lowercase versions, and "Whole words only" to avoid changing part of a longer word.
  • You can search for special characters like paragraph marks or tabs by clicking "More options" and using the codes Word provides.

Opening Find and Replace and entering your search terms

Press Ctrl+H on Windows or Command+Option+F on Mac. A dialog box will open with two text fields — one labeled "Find" at the top and one labeled "Replace" below it. Type the word or phrase you want to find in the Find field. Be exact: if you type "color" it will not find "colours" unless you tell it to ignore spelling differences.

In the Replace field, type what you want Word to use instead. If you want to delete something entirely, leave the Replace field empty and Word will remove every instance. For example, if you want to remove all the extra spaces between words, you would search for two spaces and replace with one space.

Once both fields are filled in, you can either click "Replace" to change one instance at a time, or "Replace All" to change every match in the document at once. If you're not sure the search will find exactly what you want, start with "Replace" so you can see each match before Word changes it.

Replacing one instance at a time versus all at once

When you click "Replace", Word highlights the first match in your document and waits for you to decide. You can then click "Replace" to change that one, "Replace All" to change this one and every other match, or "Find Next" to skip it and move to the next match without changing anything. This approach is slower but safer when you're not completely sure the search term will only find what you want.

"Replace All" changes every match in the document without stopping. Use this when you're confident — for instance, if you're changing a client's name throughout a contract and you know that name appears nowhere else. Word will tell you how many replacements it made at the bottom of the dialog box, so you can see the scope of what changed.

If you make a mistake, press Ctrl+Z on Windows or Command+Z on Mac when ready to undo the replacements. Word treats a "Replace All" as a single action, so one undo reverses all of them at once.

Using Match Case to find only uppercase or lowercase versions

By default, Word treats uppercase and lowercase the same way. If you search for "john", it will find "John", "JOHN", and "john" all together. Sometimes you want to change only one version. Click "More options" to expand the dialog, then check the box next to "Match case".

Now if you search for "john" with Match case turned on, Word will only find lowercase "john" and leave "John" and "JOHN" alone. This is useful when you need to fix a typo in a name but keep the capitalization rules you've already set. For example, you might want to change "iPhone" to "iPhone 15" but leave "iphone" (in a sentence that starts with it) as "iPhone 15" to match the proper noun.

Using Whole Words Only to avoid changing parts of longer words

If you search for "read" without any restrictions, Word will find it inside "thread", "already", and "reading" as well as standing alone. To search for only the complete word "read", click "More options" and check "Whole words only". Now Word will skip over "read" when it's part of a longer word and only change it when it stands by itself.

This matters most with short words. Searching for "the" without "Whole words only" will change letters inside "weather", "theater", and "other". With "Whole words only" checked, it will only change the word "the" when it appears as its own word in a sentence.

Finding and replacing special characters like tabs and paragraph marks

Sometimes you need to find or replace things you can't type directly — like a tab character, a line break, or a paragraph mark. Click "More options" to expand the dialog, then look for a button labeled "Special" or "Format". Click it to see a list of codes you can use.

The most common ones are ^p for a paragraph mark (the invisible character Word creates when you press Enter) and ^t for a tab. For example, if you have a document where every paragraph starts with a tab and you want to remove them, you would search for "^t" and leave the Replace field empty. If you want to add a paragraph break between every instance of a word, search for the word and replace it with the word followed by "^p".

Different versions of Word may use slightly different codes, so if "^p" doesn't work, click the Special button again and look for the exact code Word shows you for paragraph mark.

Searching within a selection or specific part of your document

If you only want to search part of your document, select that section first before opening Find and Replace. Highlight the text you want to search in, then press Ctrl+H. Word will only search within your selection, leaving the rest of the document untouched. This is useful when you're working on one chapter of a longer document or when you want to be extra careful about what gets changed.

If you forget to select first and open Find and Replace, you can still close the dialog, make your selection, and reopen it — Word will remember what you typed in the Find and Replace fields.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I undo a Replace All if I made a mistake?

Yes. Press Ctrl+Z on Windows or Command+Z on Mac when ready after the replacement. Word treats a Replace All as a single action, so one undo reverses all the changes at once. If you've made other edits since then, you may need to undo multiple times to get back to before the replacement.

What if I want to find text that appears at the beginning or end of a line?

Click "More options" and look for "Use wildcards" or "Regular expressions" depending on your Word version. Check that box, then use ^ to mean the start of a line and $ to mean the end. For example, ^hello would find "hello" only when it appears at the start of a paragraph.

Can I search for text with different formatting, like bold or italics?

Yes, but it's more complex. Click "More options", then look for a "Format" button. Click it and choose the formatting you want to search for. Word will then find only text that matches both the words and the formatting you specified.

Does Find and Replace work the same way in Word Online?

Word Online has Find and Replace, but with fewer options. Press Ctrl+H to open it, and you can search and replace text, but you won't see options for Match Case or Whole Words Only. For those features, you need the desktop version of Word.

What happens if I search for something that doesn't exist in my document?

Word will tell you "Search key not found" and highlight the Find field. This means the exact text you typed doesn't appear anywhere in the document. Check your spelling, or try searching for a shorter phrase to see if the text is there but worded differently than you expected.