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: Initiating a New Search.

Initiating a New Search

Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated December 25, 2021)
This tip applies to Word 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, and 2021


There are times when it is possible to really muck things up when searching for information. This usually happens when you have been searching for text and formatting, and you now want to search for something new. If you don't remember to reset all the search variables, you might never find what you are searching for. To overcome this problem if you are using Word 2007, display the Find tab of the Find and Replace dialog box (press Ctrl+F) and check the following:

  • Did you clear the formatting? If the No Formatting button is available, then you should click on it.
  • Did you clear the text in the Find What box? If not, do so—or at least replace it with text for which you want to search. Remember that there may be a space or some other non-printing character in the field. It is best to highlight the field and press the Del key.

If you are using Word 2010 or a later version of Word, then how you handle searching is a bit different. Even so, you should check the same two things. The way you get to these options is to explicitly display the Find and Replace dialog box. There are two ways to do this:

  • Display the Home tab of the ribbon, click the down-arrow next to the Find tool, then choose Advanced Find.
  • Press Ctrl+F to display the Navigation pane. At the right side of the box where you enter what you want to find, click the down-arrow and choose Advanced Find.

If you still have problems finding what you want, the quickest solution is to exit Word, start the program again, reload the document, and search again.

WordTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Word training. (Microsoft Word is the most popular word processing software in the world.) This tip (9926) 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: Initiating a New Search.

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

Scaling Your Output

One of the lesser-known features of Word is that it allows you to create a document for one page size and scale the ...

Discover More

Removing a Macro from a Shortcut Key

When you assign a macro to a shortcut key, you make it easy to run the macro without ever removing your hands from the ...

Discover More

Errors when Copying References to External Cells

If you copy a cell that contains a reference to external data, do you get an error? It could be due to the complexity of ...

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)

Easily Finding Superscripts

Word has a powerful Find and Replace capability, but sometimes it can be tricky to figure out exactly how to use it. Here ...

Discover More

Finding Missing Spaces before Numbers

If you want to insert a space between letters and digits in your document, you have a couple of tasks to perform. First, ...

Discover More

Keeping a Replace Operation Displayed

The Find and Replace tool is designed to help you find and replace information as quickly as possible. However, you may ...

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 six more than 9?

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.