Searching for Floating Graphics with a Macro

Word includes some commands and shortcuts that allow you to search for graphics in your documents. Unfortunately, those methods of searching are only good for finding inline graphics. If you want to find floating graphics, you are out of luck; since they are on the graphics layer and not in the actual document, Word pretty much ignores them.

There is a way you can find floating graphics using a macro, however. A macro can examine the floating graphics in your document and select each of them in turn. The following macro does just that:

Sub FindFigs()
    Dim varItem As Variable
    Dim bExists As Boolean
    Dim iShapeCount As Integer
    Dim iJumpTo As Integer

    ' ensure variable exists
    bExists = False
    For Each varItem In ActiveDocument.Variables
        If varItem.Name = "FigNum" Then
            bExists = True
            Exit For
        End If
    Next varItem

    ' initialize document variable if doesn't exist
    If Not bExists Then
        ActiveDocument.Variables.Add _
          Name:="FigNum", Value:=0
    End If

    ' figure to jump to
    iJumpTo = ActiveDocument.Variables("FigNum") + 1

    ' get number of shapes
    iShapeCount = ActiveDocument.Shapes.Count
    If iJumpTo > iShapeCount Then iJumpTo = 1

    If iShapeCount > 0 Then
        'Display the shape
        ActiveDocument.Shapes(iJumpTo).Anchor.Select
        'Select the shape
        ActiveDocument.Shapes(iJumpTo).Select
    End If
    'Set the variable for next time
    ActiveDocument.Variables("FigNum") = iJumpTo
End Sub

This macro uses a document variable to keep track of which graphic was last selected. If you need to search for floating graphics quite a bit, this means you can assign this macro to the Quick Access Toolbar or a shortcut key and search for each floating graphic in your document, in turn.

WordTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Word training. (Microsoft Word is the most popular word processing software in the world.) This tip (10442) 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: Searching for Floating Graphics.