Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated October 28, 2023)
This tip applies to Word 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, 2021, and Word in Microsoft 365
Agnes has a series of paragraphs that begin with a title that is followed by a period and two spaces. She would like to search for this pattern (multiple words at the beginning of a paragraph followed by a period and two spaces) and underline just the words, exclusive of the period and the spaces.
This can be done with a wildcard search in the following manner:
Figure 1. The Replace tab of the Find and Replace dialog box.
That's it. The search pattern you entered in step 4 indicates that you want to search for paragraph marks (^13) followed by any length combination of letters and digits ([A-z 0-9]{1,}), terminated by a period and two spaces ([!. ]). The exclamation mark means that the characters which follow should not exist in whatever is matched by the search.
All of this is then used in the Replace With, as the ^& combination means to use the "found" text as the replacement. This, however, is formatted with an underline.
Understand that steps 2 and 9 are very important. If you don't do the search from the bottom of the document toward the top, you won't get the desired results.
As presented above, the steps result in all the text before the period being underlined. If you prefer to have a different type of underline (such as underlining only the words), then in step 7 you should click the Format button, choose Font, and use the Underline drop-down list to specify the type of underline you desire.
WordTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Word training. (Microsoft Word is the most popular word processing software in the world.) This tip (9077) applies to Microsoft Word 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, 2021, and Word in Microsoft 365. You can find a version of this tip for the older menu interface of Word here: Formatting Partial Results of a Search.
Learning Made Easy! Quickly teach yourself how to format, publish, and share your content using Word 2013. With Step by Step, you set the pace, building and practicing the skills you need, just when you need them! Check out Microsoft Word 2013 Step by Step today!
The Find and Replace feature of Word is very powerful, allowing you to finely target exactly what you want to search. ...
Discover MoreThe wild card searching capabilities of Word are amazing. One thing you can do with wild cards is to specify not only a ...
Discover MoreThe Find and Replace capabilities of Word are very powerful. You can even use them to do some complex and specific ...
Discover MoreFREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in WordTips, a free productivity newsletter. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."
There are currently no comments for this tip. (Be the first to leave your comment—just use the simple form above!)
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.
Visit the WordTips channel on YouTube
FREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in WordTips, a free productivity newsletter. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."
Copyright © 2025 Sharon Parq Associates, Inc.
Comments