Finding and Replacing

Lengthy, complex business files can hold a ton of information, and who wants to spend all day using the PgDw key and scrolling to try to find one bit of information? Luckily, you can use the Find feature to search for a particular word or phrase. For example, if you need to find the section of a construction contract that deals with site remediation, you can find the phrase “site remediation.” Even better, you can use the Replace feature to correct words you’ve misspelled or to change phrases or names. For example, if you’ve mistakenly spelled “Artur Consulting” as “Arthur Consulting” throughout a proposal for a new client, you can replace all instances of the spelling boo-boo with the correction.

Finding and replacing work in a very similar fashion, so you can use the following steps for either operation:

1.	Press Ctrl+Home. This step moves the cursor to the beginning of the document so that the Find or Replace operation starts from there.
2.	Click the Home tab on the Ribbon.
3.	Click either Find or Replace in the Editing Group. The Find and Replace dialog box appears. The Find tab that appears for a find includes a Find What text box, whereas the Replace tab that appears for a replace also includes a Replace With text box. Note In Excel, click the Find & Select button on the Home tab and then click either Find or Replace. In other applications, you may need to choose Find or Replace from the Edit menu or may be able to press Ctrl+F to start a find. The Find and Replace dialog box varies in appearance from application to application.
4.	Type the entry to find in the Find What text box.
5.	Type the replacement entry, if any, in the Replace With text box.
6.	Specify additional options, if needed. The available options vary depending on the application. For example, in Word, you can click the More button and then specify choices such as matching case or matching a prefix or suffix.
7.	Click Find Next. The application highlights the first matching instance of the search word or phrase, as shown in Figure 3-24. Figure 3-24. The found match is selected (highlighted). [View full size image]
8.	Click a button for replacing the found text, if applicable: Replace: Replaces only the highlighted instance of the matching word or phrase. Replace All: Replaces all instances of the matching word or phrase. Find Next: Skips to the next match without making a replacement.
9.	Repeat Steps 7 and 8 as needed to proceed through the find or replace operation.
10.	Click OK in the message that tells you that the search has been completed.