The Find & Replace dialog does all the work for you

To replace all instances of a word or phrase in your document at once, open the Find & Replace dialog by pressing Ctrl+H (Windows) or Command+Option+F (Mac). Type the text you want to find in the "Find what" field, type the replacement text in the "Replace with" field, then click Replace All. Word will change every match in your document in seconds.

You do not have to go through each replacement one at a time. The Replace All button handles them all in a single action, and Word tells you how many replacements it made when it finishes.

Key Takeaways

  • Press Ctrl+H (Windows) or Command+Option+F (Mac) to open Find & Replace, then type what you want to find and what you want it to become.
  • Click Replace All to change every match in your document at once, rather than approving each one individually.
  • Use Match Case if you need to distinguish between uppercase and lowercase versions of the same word.
  • Word shows you a count of replacements made, so you can verify the change worked as intended.
  • You can undo a Replace All action with Ctrl+Z if the results are not what you expected.

Opening Find & Replace from the ribbon menu

If keyboard shortcuts are not your preference, you can reach Find & Replace through the menu. Click the Home tab, then look for the Editing group on the right side of the ribbon. Click the Find & Replace button (or the arrow next to it), and select Replace from the dropdown.

On a Mac, go to the Edit menu at the top and choose Find, then Replace. The dialog that opens is the same one you get from the keyboard shortcut.

What to type in each field

The Find what field is where you enter the text you want to locate. This can be a single word, a phrase, or even a partial word — Word will find every occurrence that matches exactly what you type.

The Replace with field is where you type what you want Word to put in place of the found text. If you leave this field blank and click Replace All, Word will delete every instance of the search term instead of replacing it with something else.

For example, if you type "colour" in Find what and "color" in Replace with, Word will change every British spelling to American spelling throughout your document.

Using Match Case and other options

By default, Word ignores the difference between uppercase and lowercase letters. If you search for "word," it will find "Word," "WORD," and "word" all the same. Click Match Case if you need to distinguish between them — for instance, if you want to replace only the capitalized version of a name.

Other options in the dialog let you search for whole words only (so "cat" does not match "catalog"), find text with specific formatting, or search in a particular direction. These are less common, but they exist if your replacement task is more precise than a straightforward text swap.

Checking the replacement count

After you click Replace All, Word displays a message telling you how many replacements it made. Read this number carefully — if it is zero or far fewer than you expected, the search term may not exist in your document, or it may be spelled or formatted differently than you thought.

If the count is wrong, press Ctrl+Z when ready to undo the replacements. Then try again with a different search term or check your document to see what the actual text looks like.

When Replace All changes more than you intended

Replace All is powerful because it works everywhere at once, but that also means it can change text you did not mean to touch. For example, if you search for "the" and replace it with "that," you will change "the" inside words like "weather" and "theater," not just the standalone word.

To avoid this, use the Find whole words only option before you click Replace All. This tells Word to match only complete words surrounded by spaces or punctuation, not parts of longer words. After you turn on this option, the same search for "the" will skip "weather" and "theater" and change only the word "the" by itself.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I undo Replace All if I made a mistake?

Yes. Press Ctrl+Z when ready after the replacement finishes, and Word will reverse all the changes at once. You can undo multiple times if you need to go back further.

What happens if I leave the Replace with field empty?

Word will delete every instance of the search term. This is useful if you want to remove a word or phrase entirely, but make sure you use Replace All carefully — you cannot recover deleted text unless you undo right away.

Does Replace All work in headers, footers, and text boxes?

Yes. Find & Replace searches the entire document by default, including headers, footers, footnotes, endnotes, and text boxes. If you want to search only the main body text, you will need to do the replacements manually or close those sections first.

Can I search for line breaks or special characters?

Yes, but you need to use special codes. In the Find what field, type ^p for a paragraph break or ^t for a tab. You can then replace these with text or other special characters. Click More Options or Special in the dialog to see the full list of codes.