Replacing Text

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Often, you'll want to find text to replace it with something else. In Word, you use the Replace tab in the Find And Replace dialog box. The Replace tab contains the options available on the Find tab, but it also includes a Replace With box, as shown in Figure 12-15. You can enter text, wildcards, formatting, and special characters codes in the Replace With box in the same way you enter information in the Find What box.

Figure 12-15. The expanded view of the Replace tab offers the same options found on the expanded Find tab in the Find And Replace dialog box.

To access the Replace tab in the Find And Replace dialog box, choose Edit, Replace, or press Ctrl+H. Type the text you want to find in the Find What box, and type the replacement information in the Replace With text box. Then click one of the following buttons:

• Replace replaces the currently selected instance of the Find What information with the Replace With information and selects the next instance.
• Replace All replaces all instances of the Find What information with the Replace With information. (Be careful when using Replace All—unless you have a very specific search element, it's usually safer to replace text and components on a case-by-case basis.)
• Find Next skips the currently selected instance of the Find What information without replacing it and selects the next instance.

Tip - Transpose Words Using the Replace Feature

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Just as you did on the Find tab, you can use wildcards on the Replace tab. Here's a wildcard trick that uses parentheses and backslash wildcards to transpose words. It's especially useful when you'd like to switch a name from last name first to first name first. For example, type (Dunn), (Matthew) in the Find What box and type \2 \1 in the Replace With box. Select the Use Wildcards check box, and click Replace. Word finds Dunn, Matthew and replaces it with Matthew Dunn. Placing the comma outside the parentheses ensures that it's eliminated when the replacement text is inserted.

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Troubleshooting

I Can't Replace Text with a Graphic or an Object

Although the Find And Replace dialog box doesn't directly support replacing text with graphics or objects, you can easily perform this action using the Clipboard and the ^c wildcard. You might want to use this feature to insert elements such as margin icons or recurring field combinations. To execute this procedure, follow these steps:

1. If not already present, enter placeholder text (such as @@@) where you want to insert the graphic or other element.
2. Copy the graphic or component you want to insert to the Clipboard.
3. Press Ctrl+H to open the Replace tab in the Find And Replace dialog box.
4. In the Find What box, type the placeholder text.
5. In the Replace With text box, enter ^c; to indicate the last item copied to the Clipboard.
6. Click Replace or Replace All.

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