Please Note: This article is written for users of the following Microsoft Word versions: 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003. If you are using a later version (Word 2007 or later), this tip may not work for you. For a version of this tip written specifically for later versions of Word, click here: Removing Entire Paragraphs from Your Document.

Removing Entire Paragraphs from Your Document

Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated November 16, 2019)
This tip applies to Word 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003

The Replace function built into Word is extremely powerful. Because of this it is possible to do quite a bit of damage to your documents. But sometimes you want to do damage, right? For instance, you may want to remove all occurrences of a certain type of paragraph. In lesser word processors, this can be quite a chore. But Word makes it relatively painless and quick, provided you have formatted your document using styles. To remove paragraphs, follow these steps:

Position the insertion point at the beginning of your document. (This is not necessary but makes the replace operation quicker.)
Press Ctrl+H. Word displays the Replace tab of the Find and Replace dialog box.
If the More button is available, click on it. (See Figure 1.)

Figure 1. The expanded Replace tab of the Find and Replace dialog box.

Delete anything in the Find What box. Click on the No Formatting button if it is available.
Click on Format, then choose Styles. Word displays the Find Styles dialog box.
Select the style of the paragraphs you want to remove from your document.
Press Tab to advance to the Replace With box. Delete anything there and click on the No Formatting button if it is available.
Click on Replace All.

WordTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Word training. (Microsoft Word is the most popular word processing software in the world.) This tip (3) applies to Microsoft Word 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003. You can find a version of this tip for the ribbon interface of Word (Word 2007 and later) here: Removing Entire Paragraphs from Your Document.

Author Bio

Allen Wyatt

With more than 50 non-fiction books and numerous magazine articles to his credit, Allen Wyatt is an internationally recognized author. He is president of Sharon Parq Associates, a computer and publishing services company. Learn more about Allen...

MORE FROM ALLEN

Colors No Longer Work

It can be disconcerting if you are editing a workbook and can no longer change colors for cells in the workbook. This tip ...

Discover More

Turning Off Automatic Capitalization

Type some information into a worksheet, and you may notice that Excel automatically capitalizes some of your information. ...

Discover More

Rounding to the Nearest Half Dollar

When working with financial data, it's easy to round values to the nearest dollar. What if you want them rounded to the ...

Discover More

Discover the Power of Microsoft Office This beginner-friendly guide reveals the expert tips and strategies you need to skyrocket your productivity and use Office 365 like a pro. Mastering software like Word, Excel, and PowerPoint is essential to be more efficient and advance your career. Simple lessons guide you through every step, providing the knowledge you need to get started. Check out Microsoft Office 365 For Beginners today!

More WordTips (menu)

Non-breaking Em Dashes

Need an em dash to be "sticky" on both ends of the dash? Word doesn't provide such formatting, but there are a few ...

Discover More

Differences between Deleting, Clearing, and Cutting

When getting rid of text from your document, Word allows you to delete, clear, or cut. Here are the differences between ...

Discover More

Ensuring Consistent References with AutoText

You'll often need to make sure that references within a document are consistent with each other. In this tip you discover ...

Discover More

FREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in WordTips, a free productivity newsletter. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."

View most recent newsletter.

Comments

If you would like to add an image to your comment (not an avatar, but an image to help in making the point of your comment), include the characters [{fig}] (all 7 characters, in the sequence shown) in your comment text. You’ll be prompted to upload your image when you submit the comment. Maximum image size is 6Mpixels. Images larger than 600px wide or 1000px tall will be reduced. Up to three images may be included in a comment. All images are subject to review. Commenting privileges may be curtailed if inappropriate images are posted.

Notify me about new comments ONLY FOR THIS TIP

Notify me about new comments ANYWHERE ON THIS SITE

Hide my email address

What is nine minus 1?

2022-11-05 04:38:01

Ajithkumar

Hi, Can I have a word macro to delete a paragraph just preceding to 1 specific word ?

This Site

Got a version of Word that uses the menu interface (Word 97, Word 2000, Word 2002, or Word 2003)? This site is for you! If you use a later version of Word, visit our WordTips site focusing on the ribbon interface.