Please Note: This article is written for users of the following Microsoft Word versions: 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, 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: Replacing with Plain Text.

Replacing with Plain Text

Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated May 8, 2021)
This tip applies to Word 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, and 2021


If you use Word's Find and Replace tool to search for text and replace it with other text, Word applies to the replacement text the character attributes it found in the first character of the Find What text. For example, if you search for "Highlight is a brief review," and the word "Highlight" is in italics in the document, then the entire replacement string is formatted as italics by Word.

This behavior is by design; Word needs to pick some sort of formatting for the replacement text, so it bases it on the first character of what is being replaced. In most cases this isn't a problem, but in some cases (such as when the replacement text needs to have several character attributes) it can be a problem.

One solution is to use the formatting capabilities of the Find and Replace tool. When setting up your search, make sure the insertion point is in the Replace With box and then use the Format drop-down list to choose what formatting you want applied to the replacement text. If you don't want it to have any formatting, then you can choose Format | Font and make sure that Regular Text is selected.

If your formatting needs are more complex than forcing a plain-text replacement, then this simplistic approach won't work. For instance, you might want to replace "Highlight is a brief review" with "Highlights is a magazine for children," and both "Highlight" and "Highlights" were the only text to appear in italics. In this case, you need to rely on a more esoteric feature of the Find and Replace tool.

  1. Find a place in your document where you can type the replacement text and format it the way you want.
  2. Select the text and press Ctrl+X. The text is cut from the document and placed in the Clipboard.
  3. Press Ctrl+H to display the Replace tab of the Find and Replace dialog box. (See Figure 1.)
  4. Figure 1. The Replace tab of the Find and Replace dialog box.

  5. In the Find What box, enter the text you want to replace.
  6. In the Replace With box, enter ^c.
  7. Click Replace All.

Word finds whatever text you specified in step 4 and replaces it with the contents of the Clipboard, which happens to be your formatted replacement text.

WordTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Word training. (Microsoft Word is the most popular word processing software in the world.) This tip (9355) applies to Microsoft Word 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, and 2021. You can find a version of this tip for the older menu interface of Word here: Replacing with Plain Text.

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

Finding the Directory Name

Need to know the directory (folder) in which a workbook was saved? You can create a formula that will return this ...

Discover More

Retrieving Drive Statistics

Need to gather some information about the drives on a system? It can be pretty easy to do using a macro, as shown in this ...

Discover More

Finding Text at the End of a Table Cell

How do you use Find and Replace to locate information at the end of a table cell? Interestingly enough, there is no way ...

Discover More

Do More in Less Time! An easy-to-understand guide to the more advanced features available in the Microsoft 365 version of Word. Enhance the quality of your documents and boost productivity in any field with this in-depth resource. Complete your Word-related tasks more efficiently as you unlock lesser-known tools and learn to quickly access the features you need. Check out Microsoft 365 Word For Professionals For Dummies today!

More WordTips (ribbon)

Highlighting Found Text

When searching for text, Word can helpfully highlight all instances of what is found. If you want that highlighting to be ...

Discover More

Replacing with a Subscript

The Find and Replace capabilities of Word are quite powerful. One type of replacing may not seem possible at ...

Discover More

Deleting Regular Text between Bold Text

Word makes it easy, using Find and Replace, to replace or delete information based on its formatting. Whether this ...

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.

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}] (all 7 characters, in the sequence shown) 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 5 - 0?

There are currently no comments for this tip. (Be the first to leave your comment—just use the simple form above!)


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.

Videos
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.