Search and Replace Specific Formatting (fonts, styles,etc) in Microsoft Word 2007

Knowing how to find and replace text formatting in Word can save you a huge amount of time. Rather than manually updating text formatting across an entire document, you can use Word’s powerful search and replace tools to quickly change fonts, sizes, styles, and more. This tutorial will teach you techniques like:

Using the Find and Replace tool for text formatting
Modifying styles for global formatting changes

Wildcard characters for advanced find and replace
Recording macros to automate multi-step tasks

Follow along to learn how to harness Word 2007’s formatting features to work smarter, not harder!

Finding and Replacing Text Formatting

The Find and Replace tool in Word is useful for more than just finding text. You can also use it to search for and replace specific text formatting like:

Font family
Font size

Font color
Bold/italic text
Underlined text

Text with certain paragraph styles applied

Here are the basic steps:

Press Ctrl + H to open the Find and Replace pane

Click the More > > button to show advanced options
Check the box for Format to display formatting options
Specify the formatting you want to find

Optional: Specify replacement formatting under the Replace tab
Click Find Next to jump to the first match, or Replace All to replace everywhere

For example, let’s say you want to find all text set in the Arial font at a 12 pt size. Here are the steps:

In the Find and Replace pane, check Format
Under Font, choose Arial
Set font size to 12 pt

Click Find Next repeatedly to cycle through matches
Optionally set replacement font formatting if desired

The more options you specify in the Find Format and Replace Format sections, the more precise your search becomes.

Pro Tip: Use wildcard finds (covered later) along with format specifications to search complex formatting like specific font colors.

Modifying Styles for Global Formatting Changes

Rather than manually updating text formatting throughout a document, you can save time by updating styles instead.

Styles in Word allow you to define reusable formatting like fonts, spacing, indents, etc. When you modify a style, any text with that style applied will update automatically.

For global find/replace formatting operations, styles should be your first choice rather than manual text updates.

Here is an easy way to update formatting through styles:

Press Ctrl + Shift + S to open the Styles pane

Right click the style you want to change
Choose Modify from the menu
Tweak the formatting options in the dialog box

Click OK to apply the changes

For example, if you want all Heading 2’s to use the Arial font, just modify the Heading 2 style. This will cascade the change to all headings in one click!

The Styles pane also lets you control styles from one spot rather than digging through menus. Once you learn to leverage styles, it will transform how you work with Word!

Using Wildcard Characters for Advanced Finds

Sometimes you need to search for specific formatting that’s difficult to define, like font sizes set at 13.5 pt. Or font colors set to specific RGB values.

This is where wildcard characters come in handy!

Wildcard finds allow you to search using special characters to target complex formatting criteria.

Here are some particularly useful find and replace wildcards related to text formatting:

Wildcard	What It Finds
^f	Font name
^s	Font size
^d	Double strikethrough text
^c	Font color in RGB or hex code
^l	Left aligned text

You can combine wildcards with numbers and operators to find very specific formats.

For example, to find all text set at a 13.5 pt font size:

In the Find box: ^s=13.5

Or to find specifically pink font color:

In the Find box: ^cRGB(255,192,203)

Spend some time playing with wildcard finds and you can precisely target the formatting you need!

Macro Recorder for Repeated Tasks

If you need to repeatedly search and replace the same complex formatting criteria, the Macro Recorder can help.

The macro recorder captures your find/replace steps into a VBA macro that you can reuse. No coding is needed on your part – just turn on the recorder and Word handles the rest!

Here are the basic workflow steps:

Click the View tab on the ribbon
Click Macros > Record Macro

Give the macro a name
Complete your find/replace workflow
Click Stop Recording when done

The macro will now appear in your list of saved macros
Run the macro anytime to repeat the tasks!

The macro recorder is fantastic for batch formatting updates like:

Changing all 12 pt text to 11 pt
Updating text colors site-wide
Fixing double spaces or incorrect dashes

Applying new paragraph styles

Just record the steps once manually, then let the macro repeat the job endlessly!

You can also view the generated VBA code and customize it further for advanced needs. But often the recorder alone does the trick perfectly.

The macro recorder transforms Word’s find/replace from one-off tool into reusable automation. It’s an easy way to eliminate repetitive formatting tasks.

Next Steps

That wraps up our deep dive on searching and replacing text formatting in Word 2007. As you can see, Word offers many built-in features to help tackle difficult find/replace jobs involving fonts, sizes, styles, and more.

Here are some next things to try: