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: Finding Text Boxes.

Finding Text Boxes

Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated February 9, 2019)
This tip applies to Word 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003

Word has a powerful search and replace capability that lets you search for virtually anything in your document. Word even includes codes you can use to search for special items. (Click the Special button in the Find and Replace dialog to see what codes are available.) One thing you cannot search for, however, is text boxes. There is no special code that allows you find text boxes, and you can't search for them using the Object Browser.

You can, however, use a macro to look through a document and stop when it finds a text box. The following macro stops on each text box it finds and asks the user if that is the text box wanted.

Sub SearchTextBox()
    Dim shp As Shape
    Dim sTemp As String
    Dim iAnswer As Integer

    For Each shp In ActiveDocument.Shapes
        If shp.Type = msoTextBox Then
            shp.Select
            Selection.ShapeRange.TextFrame.TextRange.Select
            sTemp = Selection.Text
            sTemp = Left(sTemp,20)
            iAnswer = MsgBox("Box contains text beginning with:" & vbCrLf _
              & sTemp & vbCrLf & "Stop here?", vbYesNo, "Located Text Box")
            If iAnswer = vbYes Then Exit For
        End If
    Next
End Sub

Note:

If you would like to know how to use the macros described on this page (or on any other page on the WordTips sites), I've prepared a special page that includes helpful information. Click here to open that special page in a new browser tab.

WordTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Word training. (Microsoft Word is the most popular word processing software in the world.) This tip (3520) 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: Finding Text Boxes.

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

Creating Traditional Forms

Do you use Word to create printed forms? If so, here's some ideas and techniques you can use to make those forms look as ...

Discover More

Changing a Field Parameter

Fields are a powerful way to add dynamic content to your documents. Some fields rely on the use of parameters to control ...

Discover More

Adding an Area Code

When you work with phone numbers in a worksheet, you may want to normalize those numbers so that they contain an area ...

Discover More

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!

More WordTips (menu)

Different Layout for a Portion of a Page

Got a document layout that requires a portion of the page to be in one layout and another portion to be in a different ...

Discover More

Wrapping Text Around a Text Box or Frame

Text boxes and frames can be used for all sorts of information and objects in a document. You can wrap text around the ...

Discover More

Selecting Text in Linked Text Boxes

Text boxes are often used as design elements in a document layout. If you have linked text boxes, you may have noticed ...

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 2 + 2?

2020-02-06 04:34:28

Ken Endacott

Text can be added to any enclosed shape, whereas a textbox is a special rectangle containing text. Just to be confusing a rectangle that has text added later is not classified as a textbox even though it looks exactly like a textbox. To add to the confusion,textboxes are a subset of shapes.

The macro SearchTextBox only finds Textboxes in the body of the document but not in other areas such as headers and footers. The following macro SearchTextInShapes will find text in any shape including textboxes - but only in the body of the document.

Sub SearchTextInShapes()
Dim shp As Shape
Dim sTemp As String
Dim iAnswer As Long
For Each shp In ActiveDocument.Range.ShapeRange
If shp.TextFrame.HasText Then
shp.Select
sTemp = shp.TextFrame.TextRange.Text
sTemp = Left(sTemp, 20)
iAnswer = MsgBox("Box contains text beginning with:" & vbCrLf _
& sTemp & vbCrLf & "Stop here?", vbYesNo, "Located Text Box")
If iAnswer = vbYes Then Exit For
End If
Next shp
End Sub

2020-02-05 04:56:55

Bob

Hello,
thank you for the tip,
I have a question - is there any reason why some textboxes were not accessed in this loop?
For Each shp In ActiveDocument.Shapes
If shp.Type = msoTextBox Then
......

2019-02-24 04:48:10

Chrispy

Hi Allen,

I'm using VBA in Excel to open Word documents and search for text.
I tried to use your code and changed the ActiveDocument.Shapes to oDoc.Shapes (oDoc is defined as Word.Document)

Gave me a type mismatch on the For statement
Any ideas?

Thanks

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.