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: Repeating In a Macro.
Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated February 20, 2020)
This tip applies to Word 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003
One of the most common things you need to do when creating a macro is to repeat a block of actions for each occurrence of something within a file. This may sound strange, but those who program know the situation very well—you need to search through a file and then take some action, repeat the search and repeat the action, and so on until the end of the file is reached. The general approach is as follows:
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:
Selection.HomeKey Unit:=wdStory
[set up for your search]
Selection.Find.Execute
While Selection.Find.Found
[take some action]
Selection.Find.Execute
Wend
The first line in this example moves to the beginning of the document. You then use whatever commands necessary to set up for your search. When the Selection.Find.Execute line is encountered, Word performs the actual search. Then Selection.Find.Found is used to control the While ... Wend loop. This property (Selection.Find.Found) is set to True each time an executed search actually results in something being found. Thus, the whole While ... Wend loop is repeated over and over again, as long as whatever you are searching for continues to be found. As the last step in the loop, the Selection.Find.Execute statement is used to once again perform the search.
Note:
WordTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Word training. (Microsoft Word is the most popular word processing software in the world.) This tip (1083) 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: Repeating In a Macro.
Learning Made Easy! Quickly teach yourself how to format, publish, and share your content using Word 2013. With Step by Step, you set the pace, building and practicing the skills you need, just when you need them! Check out Microsoft Word 2013 Step by Step today!
Formulas created in a macro have a specific order in which operations are performed. This is known as precedence, as ...
Discover MoreNeed to save a new document, from within a macro, to a specific file name? If you use the Record Macro capabilities of ...
Discover MoreCreating macros can help extend what you can do in Word. If you work with macros, you know that creating macros from ...
Discover MoreFREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in WordTips, a free productivity newsletter. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."
2015-05-13 12:12:47
Dawn
What goes in the "take some action" section in your example?
2015-03-29 00:05:57
Redeer
I currently have a macro like this that goes character by character (i.e. slowly). It is changing the color of the character if the Selection.Find.Found color is not blue.
Is there any way to have it iterate through the whole document paragraph by paragraph or sentence by sentence?
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.
Visit the WordTips channel on YouTube
FREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in WordTips, a free productivity newsletter. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."
Copyright © 2024 Sharon Parq Associates, Inc.
Comments