Word allows you to search not just for text, but also for special characters that normally do not print. Two of the most common characters you will find yourself searching for are paragraph marks and line breaks (sometimes called newline characters and inserted by pressing shift+enter). To search for these characters, follow these steps in Word 2007:
Figure 1. The Find tab of the Find and Replace dialog box.
If you are using Word 2010 or a later version, then the interface used for searching is different than in earlier versions of Word:
WordTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Word training. (Microsoft Word is the most popular word processing software in the world.) This tip (8699) applies to Microsoft Word 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, and Word in Office 365. You can find a version of this tip for the older menu interface of Word here: Searching for Paragraph Marks and Line Breaks.
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The vast majority of what you enter into a document can be accomplished through the use of the regular keyboard. However, ...
Discover MoreEven characters that print nothing still take space in your document. Characters such as tabs, spaces, breaks, and the ...
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2019-05-05 20:51:59
Peter Wezel
You may want to tell as well, that there is no need to learn these special characters by heart. You can enter these special characters from the Find or Replace box by pressing the More >> button and then selecting the Special button at the bottom of the window. Then a list of all special characters that can be seached for will be displayed. This includes not only paragraph marks and line breaks, but also page breaks, tab characters or any number, to name just a few.
Got a version of Word that uses the ribbon interface (Word 2007 or later)? This site is for you! If you use an earlier version of Word, visit our WordTips site focusing on the menu interface.
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