The Find and Replace tool replaces one word with another throughout your document at once

Microsoft Word's Find and Replace feature lets you swap out a word, phrase, or even a formatting style everywhere it appears in your document without retyping it manually. You open it with Ctrl+H on Windows or Command+Option+F on Mac, type the word you want to remove and the word you want instead, then choose to replace one instance at a time or all of them at once.

This is faster and more reliable than scrolling through a long document and editing by hand, especially when you have misspelled a name throughout a 20-page report or decided halfway through that "customer" should be "client" everywhere.

Key Takeaways

  • Open Find and Replace with Ctrl+H (Windows) or Command+Option+F (Mac), or go to the Home tab and click Replace.
  • Type the word you want to find in the first box and the replacement word in the second box, then click Replace All to change every instance at once.
  • Use the arrow next to Replace All to see each match before you replace it, so you do not accidentally change words you meant to keep.
  • You can search for whole words only, match the exact uppercase or lowercase, or find formatting like bold or italics and replace it with different formatting.
  • If you replace something by mistake, press Ctrl+Z when ready to undo all the changes at once.

How to open Find and Replace and make a straightforward swap

Press Ctrl+H on Windows or Command+Option+F on Mac. The Find and Replace dialog box opens on the right side of your screen (or in a separate window, depending on your Word version).

In the box labeled "Find what," type the word or phrase you want to remove. In the box labeled "Replace with," type what you want instead. If you want to replace every instance in the document, click the button that says Replace All. Word will tell you how many replacements it made.

If you want to check each replacement before it happens, click the button labeled Find Next instead. Word highlights the first match. You can then click Replace to change just that one, or Find Next again to skip it and move to the next match.

When to use Replace All and when to check each match first

Replace All is safe when you are certain the word you are searching for means the same thing everywhere. If you want to change "client" to "customer" throughout a contract, Replace All will do it in seconds. But if you search for a short word like "can" or "will," you might accidentally replace it inside other words — "can" inside "cancel," for example — or change it in places where you meant something different.

When you are unsure, click the small arrow next to Replace All to reveal a Replace button. Use Find Next to move through each match one at a time, and click Replace only for the ones you want to change. This takes longer but prevents mistakes.

If you do make a mistake and replace something you did not mean to, press Ctrl+Z when ready. Word will undo all the replacements at once, and you can try again with a more specific search.

How to search for whole words only

To avoid replacing a short word inside a longer word, check the box labeled Match entire cell contents or Whole words only (the exact label depends on your Word version). Now when you search for "can," Word will find "can" as its own word but not the "can" inside "cancel" or "candle."

This setting is especially useful for names, abbreviations, and short common words. If you are replacing "Dr." with "Doctor," turning on whole words only prevents Word from changing "Dr." inside "Driveway" or other words that happen to start the same way.

How to match uppercase and lowercase exactly

By default, Word treats uppercase and lowercase the same way. If you search for "john," it will find "John," "JOHN," and "john." If you want Word to match the exact capitalization, check the box labeled Match case.

This is useful when you have a proper name spelled two different ways and you want to fix only one of them. You could search for "Jonathon" with Match case on, replace it with "Jonathan," and leave any instances of "jonathan" (if they exist) untouched.

How to find and replace formatting

Find and Replace can swap out formatting as well as text. You might want to find all the bold text in a section and change it to italics, or find all red text and make it black.

In the Find and Replace dialog, type the text you want to find (or leave it blank if you only want to search by formatting). Click the button labeled Format or the arrow next to More options. A menu appears where you can choose Bold, Italic, Font Color, or other formatting. Select what you want to find, then do the same in the "Replace with" box to choose the new formatting. Click Replace All to explore the change everywhere.

If you want to find bold text and replace it with regular text, search for the text with Bold selected in the Find section, but leave the Replace section blank (with no formatting selected).

What to do if Find and Replace is not finding what you expect

If Word is not finding a word you know is in the document, check whether you have Match case or Whole words only turned on. These settings can make your search too narrow. Try turning them off and searching again.

If you are searching for a phrase with extra spaces or special characters, Word might not find it because the document has different spacing. Try searching for just the main word without the spaces around it, or use the Find Next button to move through matches one at a time and see what Word is actually finding.

If you have replaced something by mistake and want to undo it, press Ctrl+Z right away. Word will reverse all the replacements from your last Replace All command. If you have already closed the document or done other work, the undo may not be available, so it is worth double-checking your replacements before you click Replace All on something you are not sure about.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I undo a Replace All if I did it wrong?

Yes, press Ctrl+Z when ready after Replace All to undo all the replacements at once. If you have already closed the document or done other work since then, the undo may no longer be available. This is why it is worth using Find Next to check a few matches before you use Replace All on something you are uncertain about.

How do I search for a line break or paragraph mark?

In the Find what box, type ^p to represent a paragraph mark (the break at the end of a line). You can use this to find and remove extra blank lines, or to replace a paragraph mark with something else. The exact code varies by Word version, so check your version's help menu if ^p does not work.

Can I search for text with different spacing or punctuation?

Standard Find and Replace treats spacing and punctuation literally, so a search for "don't" will not find "dont" or "don't" with different spacing. For more flexible searching, look for an option called Use wildcards or Regular expressions in your version of Word, though these require learning special search codes.

What if I only want to replace text in part of my document?

Select the section of text you want to change before you open Find and Replace. Word will search only within your selection. If you do not select anything, Find and Replace searches the entire document.

Can I replace text with a different font or color?

Yes. In the Replace with box, type the new text, then click Format and choose the font, size, color, or style you want. When you click Replace All, Word will replace the old text with the new text in the new formatting.