Selective Formatting in Searches

Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated March 24, 2021)
This tip applies to Word 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003

Word includes a powerful find and replace feature that can be used to find all sorts of information and then replace it with equal aplomb. One thing you cannot do, however, is to search for information that has "mixed formatting" within it. For instance, you cannot search for the character X in regular typeface followed by the character Y in a monospace typeface.

There are, of course, ways around this, provided you are willing to use macros to do your work. For instance, your macro could do the following:

Search for the next instance of XY.
When found, examine the instance to determine if the desired formatting is present.
If not, start over at step 1.

This approach, while easy to create, has only a limited utility. Since step 2 would need to be "hard coded" into the macro, going through the trouble of changing the macro to accommodate the formatting needs would only be of value if you have quite a few instances of XY that you are looking for.

WordTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Word training. (Microsoft Word is the most popular word processing software in the world.) This tip (1552) applies to Microsoft Word 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003.

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

Changing Sort Order

When sorting information, Word follows some pretty strict rules. If you want to modify how those rules are applied, you ...

Discover More

Setting Column Width in a Macro

Does your macro need to change the width of some columns in a worksheet? Here's how to do it.

Discover More

Protecting a Table Column

Do you need a way to protect the information you put in a table? Word doesn't have a way to do this, but there are a few ...

Discover More

Do More in Less Time! An easy-to-understand guide to the more advanced features available in the Microsoft 365 version of Word. Enhance the quality of your documents and boost productivity in any field with this in-depth resource. Complete your Word-related tasks more efficiently as you unlock lesser-known tools and learn to quickly access the features you need. Check out Microsoft 365 Word For Professionals For Dummies today!

More WordTips (menu)

Copying Found Items to a New Document

Word allows you to use its searching capabilities to easily find multiple items in a document. What if you want to copy ...

Discover More

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 ...

Discover More

Finding Text Not Using a Particular Font

Word makes it easy to find text that uses a particular font or font characteristics. What it doesn't do is make it easy ...

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 six more than 1?

There are currently no comments for this tip. (Be the first to leave your comment—just use the simple form above!)

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.