The fastest way to change every instance of a word at once

Open the Find & Replace dialog by pressing Ctrl+H on Windows or Command+Option+F on Mac. Type the word or phrase you want to find in the "Find what" field, then type what you want it to become in the "Replace with" field. Click "Replace All" to change every instance at once, or click "Replace" to change them one at a time and skip any you want to keep.

This tool works on text, numbers, punctuation, and even formatting — so you can search for bold text and replace it with regular text, or find all instances of a word in italics and change them to a different word in bold. The dialog stays open until you close it, so you can run multiple searches without reopening it.

Key Takeaways

  • Press Ctrl+H (Windows) or Command+Option+F (Mac) to open Find & Replace, then type what to find and what to replace it with.
  • Click "Replace All" to change every instance at once, or "Replace" to go through one at a time and skip the ones you want to keep.
  • Use "Match case" to find only exact capitalization, and "Whole words only" to avoid changing part of a longer word.
  • The "More options" button reveals advanced searches like finding text with specific formatting or using wildcards to find patterns.

Replace one at a time or all at once

When you open Find & Replace, you have two main choices. "Replace All" changes every match in the document when ready — useful when you are certain the replacement is correct everywhere. Word will tell you how many replacements it made at the bottom of the dialog.

"Replace" goes through each match one by one. Click it, and Word highlights the first instance. You can then click "Replace" to change that one, or "Find Next" to skip it and move to the next match. This method takes longer but lets you catch mistakes — for example, if you are replacing "lead" with "led" but one instance is the noun "lead" (the metal) that should stay as is.

Avoid accidental changes with Match Case and Whole Words Only

By default, Find & Replace ignores capitalization. If you search for "john" it will find "John", "JOHN", and "john" all the same. Check the "Match case" box if you want to find only the exact capitalization you typed — useful when you need to change "John" but leave "john" (if it appears as part of a code or name) untouched.

"Whole words only" prevents Word from changing part of a word. If you search for "cat" without this box checked, it will change "cat" inside "catalog" or "concatenate". With the box checked, it changes only "cat" standing alone. This is essential when replacing short words that might hide inside longer ones.

Search for formatting, not just text

Click "More options" at the bottom of the Find & Replace dialog to reveal advanced settings. You can search for text with specific formatting — for example, find all instances of "urgent" that are bold, or find all text in Times New Roman font and change it to Calibri.

To search by formatting, type the text in the "Find what" field, then click the "Format" button below it and choose the formatting you want to match. Do the same in the "Replace with" field if you want the replacement to have different formatting. For example, you could find all instances of "DRAFT" in all caps and replace them with "Draft" in title case.

Use wildcards to find patterns

In the "More options" section, check "Use wildcards" to search for patterns instead of exact text. A wildcard is a symbol that stands for any character or group of characters. The most common ones are . (any single character) and * (any number of characters).

For example, search for "color" or "colour" at the same time by typing "colou?r" — the question mark means "this character may or may not be here". Or find any word that starts with "un" by typing "un*" and replacing it with something else. Wildcards are powerful but take practice; Word's Help menu has a full list of wildcard codes if you need them.

What happens if you make a mistake

If you click "Replace All" and realize the replacement was wrong, press Ctrl+Z when ready to undo it. Word will reverse all the replacements at once. This works even if you closed the Find & Replace dialog — as long as you have not made other edits since, undo will restore the original text.

If you wait too long or make other changes first, undo may not work. This is why "Replace" (one at a time) is safer when you are unsure, or why you should save a copy of the document before running "Replace All" on something you have not tested first.

Search across multiple documents

Find & Replace normally searches only the document you have open. If you need to change text in multiple documents at once, open them all in the same Word window (as separate tabs), then run Find & Replace. Word will search all open documents if you choose that option from the "Search" dropdown in the Find & Replace dialog.

Alternatively, you can open Find & Replace in each document separately and run the same search in each one. This takes longer but gives you more control over which documents get changed.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I search for a line break or paragraph mark?

Yes. In the "Find what" field, type ^p to represent a paragraph break or ^l (lowercase L) for a line break. For example, search for "word1^pword2" to find instances where those two words appear on separate paragraphs, then replace with "word1 word2" to put them on the same line.

What if the word I'm looking for appears in a table or header?

Find & Replace searches the entire document by default, including tables, headers, footers, and text boxes. If you want to search only the main body text and skip headers and footers, you will need to close the header/footer editing mode first, then run the search.

Can I replace text with nothing to delete it?

Yes. Leave the "Replace with" field empty and click "Replace All". Word will delete every instance of the text you searched for. This is useful for removing extra spaces, repeated words, or formatting codes you no longer need.

Does Find & Replace work the same way in older versions of Word?

The basic steps are the same in Word 2010 and later — Ctrl+H opens the dialog, and you type in the Find and Replace fields. Some advanced options like wildcards and formatting search may look slightly different or be in different locations depending on your version, but the core function has not changed.