Please Note: This article is written for users of the following Microsoft Word versions: 2007 and 2010. 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: Navigating a Collection of Selected Items.
One problem that Paul has come across is when he selects a series of different parts of the document and he wants to cycle through them, he can't find the way to do this. For example, sometimes Paul might select all of the instances of a particular type of style, such as Heading 2. If he wants to cycle through each of the selected instances, there is no way that he can discern.
There are several ways to select items in a document. One of the most common methods is to use Find and Replace to select all instances of, say, a particular word or phrase. These instances can be highlighted, but there is no way to step through them with the items still highlighted or selected; Word simply does not have that capability as part of Find and Replace.
Another common method for selecting items is to select instances of a style by using the Styles and Formatting pane. Click the down-arrow at the right of a style name (in the Styles and Formatting pane) and you can choose the Select All option. Word dutifully selects all instances of that particular style. Even though you can select them all, you still cannot cycle through the items that are selected.
It appears that the only solution in these instances is to scroll through the document, visually looking for anything selected or highlighted.
If you are using Word 2010, you can actually do this quite easily. When you do a search, the results of the search are shown in a pane at the left side of your document. Each occurrence of what you searched for is shown in the pane. You can easily navigate through the occurrences by clicking on them in the pane.
WordTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Word training. (Microsoft Word is the most popular word processing software in the world.) This tip (9317) applies to Microsoft Word 2007 and 2010. You can find a version of this tip for the older menu interface of Word here: Navigating a Collection of Selected Items.
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2013-06-27 06:59:54
Malcolm
Oh, that is going to save so much time, Fran. Many thanks.
2013-06-26 06:10:48
Fran
After you have searched for the first occurrence, you can use CTRL+PAGEDOWN to go to the next occurrence and CTRL+PAGEUP for the previous occurrence (with the focus in the text pane, not the navigation pane).
The found items all stay highlighted.
2013-06-19 12:23:34
Malcolm
I'm engaged in this multiple-search routine through a number of novels right now, changing all instances of small caps and numerals in a Times-variant font to regular Times. I use Search for the variant font to find the first instance, then the small double down-arrow at the bottom of the vertical scroll bar to find all subsequent occurrences.
2013-06-19 09:22:49
Heather
You can also use the object browser button (under the vertical scroll bar) when searching for headings. Change the browser button to headings, then use the double up or down arrows to skip. This may not be efficient if you've got lots of levels of headings in your document, but is an option.
2013-06-19 09:20:29
K W
This "tip" is poorly explained. I am unable to practice it. There is no Select All option in the Styles menu.
2013-06-19 08:55:58
Karl Vacek
Unfortunately, in Word 2010, if you use <FIND> and get a list of found items in the left pane, the first time you click on one of the items, the cursor jumps to that item and the pane closes. WHen you click <FIND> again you have to reselect the search parameter and click on Find or <ENTER> to get the list again.
This is a bother for me (fixed in Word 2013, which I otherwise disliked and I went back to Office 2010. I insert asterisks at any place in my reports where I need to make changes or insert data. I then search for these asterisks to find all the places I still need to make edits. I'd love it to work like Word 2013, but how?
2013-06-19 07:41:25
Sherry
Go to Outline View and for this case, show Level 2. There you can see all level 2's and make changes,if desired. This wouldn't work for everything you might want to single out, but does work for heading levels.
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Please Note:
This article is written for users of the following Microsoft Word versions: 2007 and 2010. 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: 
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