Please Note: This article is written for users of the following Microsoft Word versions: 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, Word in Microsoft 365, and 2021. If you are using an earlier version (Word 2003 or earlier), this tip may not work for you. For a version of this tip written specifically for earlier versions of Word, click here: Searching for Paragraph Formatting.

Searching for Paragraph Formatting

by Allen Wyatt
(last updated June 4, 2022)

Word has a very powerful search capability that allows you to find not just text but the formatting of text as well. To search for paragraph formatting, follow these steps:

Display the Find tab of the Find and Replace dialog box. (In Word 2007 simply press Ctrl+F. In Word 2010 and later versions, display the Home tab of the ribbon, click the down-arrow next to the Find tool, and then click Advanced Find.)
Make sure the Find What box is empty.
Click on the More button if it is available. (See Figure 1.)

Figure 1. The expanded Find tab of the Find and Replace dialog box.

Click on the No Formatting button, if it is enabled.
Click on the Format button and select Paragraph. The Find Paragraph dialog box appears.
Select the paragraph attributes for which you want to search. When selecting attributes that use check boxes, a check in a check box means the matching paragraph must have the attribute. If the check box is empty, then the paragraph won't have that attribute. A shaded box means the attribute doesn't matter.
Click on OK.
Click on Find Next.

WordTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Word training. (Microsoft Word is the most popular word processing software in the world.) This tip (971) applies to Microsoft Word 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, Word in Microsoft 365, and 2021. You can find a version of this tip for the older menu interface of Word here: Searching for Paragraph Formatting.

Author Bio

Allen Wyatt

With more than 50 non-fiction books and numerous magazine articles to his credit, Allen Wyatt is an internationally recognized author. He is president of Sharon Parq Associates, a computer and publishing services company. Learn more about Allen...

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