Please Note: This article is written for users of the following Microsoft Word versions: 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, and Word in Office 365. 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: Find and Replace in a Column or Row.

Find and Replace in a Column or Row

by Allen Wyatt
(last updated September 17, 2020)

5

If you do a lot of work with tables, you may need to find and replace information in a column or row of a table without affecting anything else in the table. You can do this by remembering that Word allows you to limit a search to text you select, so simply select the column or row you want to search before you instigate the search. In other words, these are the steps:

  1. Select the table column or row in which you want to search.
  2. Press Ctrl+H. Word displays the Replace tab of the Find and Replace dialog box. (See Figure 1.)

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

  3. Enter what you want to search for and what you want to replace it with, using the controls in the dialog box to modify the search and replace just the way you want.
  4. Make sure the Search drop-down list is set to Down or Up, according to your needs. You may need to click on More to see the Search drop-down list. (If you have Search set to All, then Word may think you want to search outside the bounds you defined by selecting a row or column in step 1.)
  5. Click on Find Next or Replace All, as desired.

WordTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Word training. (Microsoft Word is the most popular word processing software in the world.) This tip (8926) 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: Find and Replace in a Column or Row.

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. ...

MORE FROM ALLEN

Entering a Page Break from the Keyboard

Need to force Word to move text to the top of the next page? It's easy when you use the keyboard shortcut for a page break.

Discover More

Averaging a Non-Contiguous Range

Figuring out how to average data that is in a contiguous range of cells is easy. When the data is spread over a group of ...

Discover More

Numbering on New Paragraph Doesn't Work as Expected

The Numbering feature in Word can be a bit tricky to navigate. Sometimes it works as it should, and other times it seems ...

Discover More

Create Custom Apps with VBA! Discover how to extend the capabilities of Office 2013 (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, and Access) with VBA programming, using it for writing macros, automating Office applications, and creating custom applications. Check out Mastering VBA for Office 2013 today!

More WordTips (ribbon)

Searching for Special Hyphens

Word allows you to use a couple of different types of hyphens in your document, each with a different purpose. If you ...

Discover More

Searching for Multi-Byte Hex Codes

Need to find a character for which you only know the hex code? There are a few ways you can search for the information, ...

Discover More

Quicker Multiple Replace Operations

Need to replace a lot of the same characters very, very quickly? Here's a great way to do the replacement.

Discover More
Subscribe

FREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in WordTips, a free productivity newsletter. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."

View most recent newsletter.

(Your e-mail address is not shared with anyone, ever.)

Comments

If you would like to add an image to your comment (not an avatar, but an image to help in making the point of your comment), include the characters [{fig}] in your comment text. You’ll be prompted to upload your image when you submit the comment. Maximum image size is 6Mpixels. Images larger than 600px wide or 1000px tall will be reduced. Up to three images may be included in a comment. All images are subject to review. Commenting privileges may be curtailed if inappropriate images are posted.

What is five minus 1?

2018-07-18 11:06:02

Dr. Nick De Bonis

Using REPLACE in MS Word 2016 MSO (16.0.10228.20080) 32-bit for an inserted table. ERROR MESSAGE: 0 replacements. i have 6 entries/page on 67 pages, which is 402 MANUAL replacements. WHAT'S the issue???? TY DrD drnick31522@gmail.com

2018-03-22 09:36:30

Andrew

Kacy, you'll need to select "Match Case" in the Find and Replace search box. (Click "More" if it isn't shown.)

2018-03-21 17:37:12

Kacy

I tried to replace three all-caps words in a table and it would not replace them with lower case. It replaced them with the same all-caps words. Do you know how to change all-cap words to lower case in a table in Word 2013? Thank you.

2015-06-16 22:52:23

Terry

This tip isn't working.

2015-04-23 03:09:44

Winfried Schäfer

searching special characters like ~ does not find anything

This Site

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.

Newest Tips
Subscribe

FREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in WordTips, a free productivity newsletter. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."

(Your e-mail address is not shared with anyone, ever.)

View the most recent newsletter.

Links and Sharing
OUR COMPANY
OUR PRODUCTS
OUR AUTHORS
OUR SITES
 

Copyright © 2020 Sharon Parq Associates, Inc.