Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated July 10, 2021)
This tip applies to Word 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, and 2021
It is not uncommon to need to format text files in Word. For instance, you may get an e-mail message from someone that needs formatting, or you may get an ASCII file from a friend. The most common necessities in formatting such a file is to remove extra spaces or tabs from the beginning of a line, extra spaces or tabs from the end of a line, removing "reply" characters from the beginning of each line, and combining lines to make paragraphs.
Doing all this by hand is time-consuming work and can easily drive you batty, particularly if the file is very large. The following macro should make it easier for you. It accomplishes all the tasks just recounted and does them very quickly.
Sub DoASCII() Selection.HomeKey Unit:=wdStory Selection.Find.ClearFormatting Selection.Find.Replacement.ClearFormatting With Selection.Find .Text = "^p^w" .Replacement.Text = "^p" .Forward = True .Wrap = wdFindContinue .Format = False .MatchCase = False .MatchWholeWord = False .MatchWildcards = False .MatchSoundsLike = False .MatchAllWordForms = False End With Selection.Find.Execute Replace:=wdReplaceAll For J = 1 To 4 Selection.Find.Text = "^p> " Selection.Find.Execute Replace:=wdReplaceAll Next J Selection.Find.Text = "^p^w" Selection.Find.Execute Replace:=wdReplaceAll Selection.Find.Text = "^w^p" Selection.Find.Execute Replace:=wdReplaceAll Selection.Find.Text = "^p^p" Selection.Find.Replacement.Text = "[{}]" Selection.Find.Execute Replace:=wdReplaceAll Selection.Find.Text = "^p" Selection.Find.Replacement.Text = " " Selection.Find.Execute Replace:=wdReplaceAll Selection.Find.Text = "[{}]" Selection.Find.Replacement.Text = "^p" Selection.Find.Execute Replace:=wdReplaceAll End Sub
You should note that this macro will replace up to four levels of "> " characters put at the beginning of a line. It also assumes that the only place you want paragraph breaks are those places where a blank line exists.
Note:
WordTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Word training. (Microsoft Word is the most popular word processing software in the world.) This tip (10895) 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: Formatting Text Files with VBA.
Learning Made Easy! Quickly teach yourself how to format, publish, and share your content using Word 2021 or Microsoft 365. With Step by Step, you set the pace, building and practicing the skills you need, just when you need them! Check out Microsoft Word Step by Step today!
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