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A Fast Find-Next One of the handiest shortcut keys in all of Word is Shift+F4. Combining this shortcut with the Find feature allows you to quickly and easily repeat your searches. Microsoft Word versions: 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003

Counting Values in Table Cells In Excel it is easy to count how many times a certain character occurs in a column of cells. In Word, it is a bit trickier. It could be done with a macro, but there is an even easier way, as described in this tip. Microsoft Word versions: 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003 | 2007

Finding the Previous Occurrence Using Word’s Object Browser, it is very easy to move among different instances of what you want to search in your document. This tip explains how this tool can be used effectively to enhance your searching efforts. Microsoft Word versions: 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003

Initiating a New Search If you’ve done a lot of searching, you know that it is possible for the current search to be messed up by whatever you previously searched for. This tip provides a few guidelines on how you can minimize the impact of those previous searches. Microsoft Word versions: 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003

Quicker Multiple Replace Operations Ever wonder how to get rid of a lot of the same character in a document? This tip covers a technique I learned that is super-helpful when it comes to removing lots of tab characters, but it can be applied to any repeating character you want to get rid of. Microsoft Word versions: 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003

Removing Entire Paragraphs from Your Document Using the Find and Replace tools in Word, you can easily make changes to your document. One often overlooked capability allows you to delete all the paragraphs in your document that are formatted with a particular style. This tip explains how to perform such mass deletions. Microsoft Word versions: 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003

Replacing Long Blocks of Text Word has a length limit on what you can find and replace. There is a way around the limit, however. Microsoft Word versions: 6 | 95 | 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003

Replacing with Plain Text When you use Find and Replace, the formatting of what you are replacing has an effect on what it is being replaced with. This can create some undesired results, but there are ways around the problem, as described in this tip. Microsoft Word versions: 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003

Smart Quotes are Incorrectly Replaced Word uses two types of quotes in a document—regular quotes and smart quotes. There are a couple of ways you can switch between the two types of quotes, but you may be surprised if switching to smart quotes produces less than perfect results. This tip explains why the incorrect results may occur and what you can do to fix them. Microsoft Word versions: 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003

Specifying a Number of Matches When using pattern matching (wild cards) in searching, Word allows you to specify how many of a particular character should occur in order for a match to be made. This tip describes the parameter, surrounded by curly braces, and gives examples of how it can be effectively used. Microsoft Word versions: 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003

Updating to Smart Quotes As you type a document, Word automatically converts your quote marks and apostrophes to “curly” versions that look more professional. When working with a document from a different source that doesn’t include these smart quotes, you may want to convert them all so they look the same. This is easy to do simply by using Word’s Find and Replace function. This tip explains how. Microsoft Word versions: 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003

Using Search Text in the Replacement Word includes a powerful search engine that also allows you to easily replace text in a document. One of the “codes” you can use in the replacement text actually allows you to use whatever you are searching for. This makes Find and Replace very powerful, indeed. Microsoft Word versions: 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003

When Replace Doesn't Work Find and Replace is a great tool, but what are you to do if your find or replace doesn’t work as you expect? This tip provides a few pointers that will help you track down the cause of whatever problems you are facing. Microsoft Word versions: 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003 | 2007

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