13.1 Find — Locating Text and More

Basic Find — Navigation Pane

1. Press Ctrl + F — the Navigation Pane opens on the left with the cursor in the Search box
2. Type your search term — results highlight yellow in the document immediately as you type
3. All matching passages also appear as clickable snippets in the Results tab of the Navigation Pane
4. Click any snippet to jump to that occurrence — or use the ▲ ▼ arrows next to the search box to step through results one by one
5. The status bar at the bottom shows the count: "1 of 14 results"
6. Press Esc to close the search and remove highlights

Advanced Find — Full Find Dialog

1. Press Ctrl + H → click the Find tab — or — on the Navigation Pane, click the dropdown ▾ next to the search field → Advanced Find…
2. The Find and Replace dialog opens on the Find tab
3. Click "More >>" to expand the full set of search options

Find Options — Full Reference

Finding Non-Printing Characters Using Special Codes

Find All Instances at Once

1. In the Find tab of the Find & Replace dialog, type your search term
2. Click "Find All" (bottom-left of the dialog)
3. All occurrences are simultaneously selected in the document — highlighted with a blue selection box
4. You can now apply formatting to all of them at once without clicking each one individually (e.g., make all found instances bold or change their colour)

13.2 Wildcard Searches

Wildcards transform Find & Replace from a simple text tool into a powerful pattern-matching engine. Enable wildcards by ticking "Use wildcards" in the expanded Find dialog.

Wildcard Characters Reference

Practical Wildcard Examples

13.3 Find & Replace — Standard and Formatting-Based

Opening Find & Replace

• Keyboard: Ctrl + H
• Home → Editing group → Replace

Basic Text Replacement — Step by Step

1. Press Ctrl + H
2. In the "Find what" box: type the text to find (e.g., Acme Corporation)
3. In the "Replace with" box: type the replacement text (e.g., Pinnacle Industries Ltd)
4. Choose your action:
   • Find Next — highlights the next occurrence; review it before replacing
   • Replace — replaces the current highlighted occurrence and moves to the next
   • Replace All — replaces every occurrence in one action; a confirmation box shows how many replacements were made
5. After Replace All: always review the result and press Ctrl+Z if any replacements were incorrect

Replacing with Nothing (Deleting Text)

To delete every occurrence of a word or phrase: type it in "Find what" and leave "Replace with" completely empty. Click Replace All. Every instance is deleted.

Replacing Double Paragraph Marks with Single (Removing Extra Blank Lines)

This is one of the most common cleanup tasks when text has been pasted from an email or web page:

1. Ctrl+H → click More >> → click Special → Paragraph Mark twice in the "Find what" box
2. — or — type ^p^p directly in the "Find what" field
3. In "Replace with": click Special → Paragraph Mark once — or type ^p
4. Click Replace All → repeat until the count shows "0 replacements made" (some documents have triple or quadruple paragraph marks)

Formatting-Based Find & Replace

One of Word's most powerful hidden features — you can find text with specific formatting and replace it with differently formatted text, or find formatting alone with no text.

Example 1 — Find all Bold Red text and make it Bold Navy

1. Ctrl+H → click More >>
2. Click in the "Find what" field (leave empty for text — or type specific text if needed)
3. Click Format → Font
4. Set: Style = Bold, Font colour = Red → OK
5. Below the "Find what" box, a label appears: "Format: Font: Bold, Color: Red" — confirming the formatting criteria
6. Click in the "Replace with" field (leave empty)
7. Click Format → Font → set: Style = Bold, Colour = Dark Navy → OK
8. Click Replace All — every bold red text passage becomes bold navy

Example 2 — Replace a Style (e.g., change all "Heading 3" paragraphs to "Heading 2")

1. Ctrl+H → More >>
2. Click in "Find what" (leave text field empty)
3. Click Format → Style → select Heading 3 → OK
4. Click in "Replace with" (leave text field empty)
5. Click Format → Style → select Heading 2 → OK
6. Replace All — every Heading 3 paragraph becomes Heading 2 instantly

Example 3 — Find a specific font and replace it

1. Ctrl+H → More >>
2. Click in "Find what" → Format → Font → Font name: Calibri → OK
3. Click in "Replace with" → Format → Font → Font name: Arial → OK
4. Replace All — every Calibri passage switches to Arial

Clearing Format Criteria from the Find/Replace Fields

1. Click in the field where the format criteria appear (Find what or Replace with)
2. Click No Formatting (bottom of the dialog, next to Special) — the format label below the field disappears

13.4 Spelling & Grammar — As-You-Type Checking

The Coloured Underline System

Right-Click Correction Menu

Right-clicking any underlined word opens a context menu with these options:

• Suggested corrections — click any suggestion to replace the flagged word immediately
• Ignore Once — ignores this specific occurrence only (the underline disappears but reappears on the next spelling check if run again)
• Ignore All — ignores every occurrence of this word in the current document
• Add to Dictionary — adds the word permanently to your custom dictionary so it is never flagged again (in any document)
• Grammar explanation — for grammar errors, Word displays a brief explanation of the rule being violated

Running a Full Spelling and Grammar Check

1. Press F7 — or — Review → Proofing group → Spelling & Grammar
2. The Editor pane opens on the right side of the screen
3. Word highlights the first issue and shows options:
   • Click a suggestion to correct it
   • Click Ignore Once to skip this instance
   • Click Ignore All to skip all instances of this word
   • Click Add to Dictionary to permanently accept the word
   • Click Change to apply a suggestion
   • Click Change All to fix every instance of this spelling error simultaneously
4. Word progresses through the document, flagging each issue in turn
5. A completion message appears when the entire document has been checked

Controlling Which Text Is Checked

• To check only a section: select the text first → press F7 — Word asks whether to check the selection only or the whole document
• To exclude specific text from checking (e.g., code samples, foreign language passages): select the text → Review → Language → Set Proofing Language → tick "Do not check spelling or grammar"

The Spelling and Grammar Check Status Icon

• The Status Bar at the bottom shows a book icon: ✓ = no errors; ✗ = errors found
• Click the icon to jump directly to the next error in the document

13.5 Microsoft Editor — AI-Powered Proofreading

The Microsoft Editor is Word 2024's advanced AI proofreading engine that goes far beyond basic spelling and grammar — it analyses clarity, conciseness, formality, punctuation, inclusive language, vocabulary diversity, and more.

Opening the Editor

• Review → Proofing group → Editor
• — or — press F7 (which now opens the Editor pane rather than the old dialog)
• — or — click any underlined text → click the Editor suggestion card

Editor Pane — All Categories

Editor Score

The Editor pane shows a document score (e.g., 82 out of 100) — a measure of overall writing quality based on the number and type of issues found. The score increases as you address issues.

Configuring Editor Settings

1. In the Editor pane → click Settings (gear icon)
2. — or — File → Options → Proofing → Writing Style dropdown → choose Grammar & Refinements for maximum checking, or Grammar Only for basic checks
3. Under "When correcting spelling and grammar in Word" → click Settings…
4. Enable or disable individual Editor checks to match your document type — e.g., turn off "Inclusivity" checks for certain technical documents, or turn off "Passive voice" for legal writing where passive voice is standard

Editor Shortcut Reference

13.6 Proofing Language & Custom Dictionaries

Setting the Proofing Language

The proofing language determines which dictionary Word uses to check spelling. In South Africa this must be set correctly — otherwise English (South Africa) words like "colour", "programme", and "realise" are flagged as errors.

1. Press Ctrl+A to select all text
2. Review → Language → Set Proofing Language
3. Select English (South Africa) — or English (United Kingdom) if South Africa is not available
4. Untick "Do not check spelling or grammar"
5. Click Set As Default to apply to all future documents → Yes → OK

Custom Dictionaries — Adding and Managing Words

When Word flags a correct word (your company name, technical jargon, a product name), you can permanently add it to a custom dictionary.

1. Right-click the flagged word → Add to Dictionary — the word goes into your default custom dictionary (CUSTOM.DIC)
2. To manage your custom dictionary: File → Options → Proofing → Custom Dictionaries…
3. In the Custom Dictionaries dialog:
   • Select CUSTOM.DIC → click Edit Word List…
   • Add words manually by typing in the Word(s) box → click Add
   • Remove wrongly added words by selecting them → click Delete
   • Click New… to create a separate custom dictionary for a specific project (e.g., "Medical Terms.dic") — you can switch dictionaries on/off per project

Excluding a Word from a Dictionary (Flagging a Correct-Spelling Wrong-Usage Word)

If you want Word to always flag a word (e.g., "form" when you mean "from") you can add it to an exclusion dictionary. This is advanced and rarely needed — consult Microsoft documentation for the exclusion dictionary file path if required.

13.7 AutoCorrect — Automatic Text Correction & Shortcuts

AutoCorrect fixes common typos and capitalisation errors as you type — and can be configured as a powerful text shortcut system.

Accessing AutoCorrect Options

• File → Options → Proofing → AutoCorrect Options…
• — or — when Word AutoCorrects something, hover over the corrected word → a small blue line appears → hover over it → click AutoCorrect Options ▾ → choose "Stop Automatically Correcting…" or "Control AutoCorrect Options"

AutoCorrect Tab — Key Settings

Creating Custom AutoCorrect Shortcuts

AutoCorrect shortcuts are typing shortcuts that expand to longer text — an enormously productive feature for frequently typed content.

1. File → Options → Proofing → AutoCorrect Options → AutoCorrect tab
2. In the Replace field: type your shortcut (keep it short and not a real word — e.g., acme, addr1, vat1)
3. In the With field: type the expansion text (e.g., Acme Consulting (Pty) Ltd, Registration No: 2015/123456/07)
4. Select Plain text (inserts without formatting) or Formatted text (preserves font, bold, size etc.)
5. Click Add → OK
6. Now whenever you type acme followed by a space, Word replaces it with the full company name

Useful AutoCorrect Shortcuts to Create

AutoFormat As You Type

The AutoFormat As You Type tab in AutoCorrect Options controls automatic formatting replacements:

13.8 Thesaurus, Translate & Word Count

Thesaurus

The Thesaurus suggests synonyms and antonyms for any word — essential for improving vocabulary variety and avoiding repetition.

• Quick access: Right-click any word → Synonyms — a quick pop-out list of common synonyms; click any to replace immediately
• Full Thesaurus pane: Click a word → press Shift+F7 — or — Review → Proofing → Thesaurus
• The Thesaurus pane opens on the right — showing synonyms grouped by meaning
• Hover over any synonym → click the ▾ dropdown → Insert to replace the original word, or Copy to use it elsewhere
• Click any synonym to look it up — the pane updates to show synonyms of that word, allowing you to explore related vocabulary

Translate

• Review → Language → Translate
• Three options:
  • Translate Document — creates a new document with the entire content translated to your selected language
  • Translate Selection — translates only the selected text and shows it in the Translator pane
  • Set Document Translation Language — sets your preferred target language for future translations
• Requires an internet connection — uses Microsoft Translator

Word Count

• Review → Proofing → Word Count — opens a dialog showing: Pages, Words, Characters (no spaces), Characters (with spaces), Paragraphs, Lines
• Quick access: click the word count number in the Status Bar
• To count a selection only: select the text first → check the Status Bar — it shows "N of X words" (selected of total)
• Tick "Include textboxes, footnotes and endnotes" in the Word Count dialog for a complete count

13.9 Complete Keyboard Shortcuts Reference

13.10 Quick Self-Check

Q1: You have a 50-page contract where a client company changed its name from "Zenith Solutions" to "Summit Consulting Group". How do you make this replacement across the entire document in one action while ensuring you don't accidentally replace "Zenith" in any heading that refers to a different concept?

✓ Press Ctrl+H to open Find & Replace. In "Find what": type Zenith Solutions. In "Replace with": type Summit Consulting Group. Click "Find Next" first to review the first few instances and confirm the pattern is correct. Tick "Match case" to avoid catching any case variants. Then click "Replace All". A message reports how many replacements were made. Review the result and press Ctrl+Z if any were incorrect.

Q2: You have pasted content from multiple emails into a Word document and now have dozens of double and even triple blank lines between paragraphs. What Find & Replace operation cleans this up most efficiently?

✓ Press Ctrl+H → in "Find what" type ^p^p (two paragraph marks) → in "Replace with" type ^p (one paragraph mark) → click Replace All. Repeat until the replacement count shows 0. This progressively collapses double blank lines to single, then triple to double (now caught by the next round), until all consecutive blank lines are removed. If the document also has soft returns (line breaks), additionally find ^l and replace with ^p.

Q3: What wildcard expression would find all South African ID numbers, which follow the pattern YYMMDD XXXX 0 X X (13 digits, typically formatted as XXXXXXXXXXXXXX)?

✓ Enable wildcards → in "Find what" type: [0-9]{13}. This finds any sequence of exactly 13 consecutive digits. For a version with optional spaces: [0-9]{6} ?[0-9]{4} ?[0-9]{1} ?[0-9]{1} ?[0-9]{1}. Review each find result — wildcards find patterns, so you must still verify each match is actually an ID number and not another 13-digit sequence.

Q4: Word keeps flagging "Skailit" (your company name) as a spelling error with a red underline. How do you permanently fix this so it is never flagged again in any document?

✓ Right-click "Skailit" → click "Add to Dictionary". The word is permanently added to your personal custom dictionary (CUSTOM.DIC) and will never be flagged as a spelling error again — in any document on that computer. To add it on multiple computers, open File → Options → Proofing → Custom Dictionaries → select CUSTOM.DIC → Edit Word List → type "Skailit" → Add → OK.

Q5: You want to use Find & Replace to change all text formatted in the "Heading 3" paragraph style to use "Heading 2" instead. Describe exactly how to set this up.

✓ Press Ctrl+H → click More to expand options. Click in the "Find what" field (leave it empty — no text). Click Format → Style → select Heading 3 → OK. A label "Format: Style: Heading 3" appears below the Find field. Click in the "Replace with" field (leave it empty). Click Format → Style → select Heading 2 → OK. A label "Format: Style: Heading 2" appears below Replace. Click Replace All — every paragraph formatted as Heading 3 is instantly changed to Heading 2 throughout the document.

Q6: What is the difference between "Ignore Once" and "Ignore All" when responding to a spelling flag, and when should you use "Add to Dictionary" instead?

✓ "Ignore Once" skips only the specific highlighted occurrence — if you run spell check again, that same word will be flagged again. "Ignore All" skips every occurrence of that word for the current document session, but the word will still be flagged in other documents and when Word is restarted. "Add to Dictionary" permanently adds the word to your custom dictionary so it is never flagged again in any document on any session on that computer. Use "Add to Dictionary" for proper names, technical jargon, brand names, and any word you use regularly and know is correctly spelled.

✓ Module 13 Complete — You Have Learned:

• Basic Find (Ctrl+F) via the Navigation Pane — results highlights, stepping through, and Find All to select all instances simultaneously
• Advanced Find — the full Find dialog with all options: Match case, Whole words only, Use wildcards, Sounds like, Find all word forms, Search direction
• The Format and Special buttons in the Find dialog
• Special character codes — all 12 codes including ^p, ^t, ^m, ^l, ^b, ^+, ^s, ^?, ^#, ^$, ^w
• All wildcard characters — ?, *, [ ], [x-z], [!x], {n}, {n,}, {n,m}, <, >, ( ), @ — with examples
• Five practical wildcard examples including name reordering (First Last → Last, First)
• Find & Replace — basic text replacement, Replace / Replace All / Find Next workflow, replacing with nothing to delete
• Removing double paragraph marks with ^p^p → ^p
• Formatting-based Find & Replace — finding by font colour, style, or font name and replacing with different formatting
• Clearing format criteria with "No Formatting"
• The underline colour system — Red (spelling), Blue/Purple (grammar), Purple dotted (Editor suggestions)
• Right-click correction menu — suggestions, Ignore Once, Ignore All, Add to Dictionary
• Running a full spell check (F7) — all options in the Editor pane
• Microsoft Editor — all categories (Corrections: Spelling/Grammar; Refinements: Clarity/Formality/Vocabulary/Inclusivity); Editor Score; configuring Editor settings
• Setting the proofing language — English (South Africa) step by step
• Custom dictionaries — Add to Dictionary, Edit Word List, creating project-specific dictionaries
• AutoCorrect — all settings on the AutoCorrect tab; creating powerful custom text expansion shortcuts
• AutoFormat As You Type — all settings and when to enable or disable each
• Thesaurus — quick synonyms via right-click; full Thesaurus pane (Shift+F7)
• Translate — document vs selection translation
• Word Count — dialog, Status Bar, counting selections only, including footnotes
• Complete keyboard shortcut reference — 10 shortcuts