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: Searching for Character Formatting.

Searching for Character Formatting

Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated December 14, 2024)
This tip applies to Word 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003

Word has a very powerful search capability that allows you to find not just text but the formats of text as well. To search for character formatting, follow these steps:

Choose Find from the Edit menu, or press Ctrl+F. Word displays the Find and Replace dialog box.
Make sure the Find What box is empty.
Click on the More button. The dialog box is enlarged.
Click on the No Formatting button, if it is available.
Click on Format, then choose the Font option. Word displays the Find Font dialog box. (See Figure 1.)

Figure 1. The Find Font dialog box.

Select the character attributes for which you want to search. If a check box is selected, the text matched must have the corresponding attribute. If the check box is empty, then the text won't have that attribute. A shaded box means the attribute doesn't matter.
Click on OK.
Click on Find Next.

WordTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Word training. (Microsoft Word is the most popular word processing software in the world.) This tip (256) 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: Searching for Character Formatting.

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...

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