Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated June 24, 2023)
This tip applies to Word 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, 2021, and Word in Microsoft 365
Documents often contain many words that are purposefully very similar to each other. For instance, you may have a document that references a series of part numbers, and the part numbers are all very similar to each other. Or you may reference a group of file names in which the base portion of the name is the same word, but each file name has a suffix that is a number, such as the following:
Widget01 Widget02 Widget03 Widget04 Widget05
If you ever have a need to increment the numbers within your document, the process can be very tedious and error-prone to do by hand. (Depending, of course, on the number of names you need to change.) This means that the task is a perfect candidate for being done by a macro.
As an example, the following macro, BumpNumbers, will search for all instances of the word Widget followed immediately by a two-digit number. The number will then be incremented.
Sub BumpNumbers() Dim J As Integer Dim sFindText As String Dim sReplaceText As String Selection.Find.ClearFormatting Selection.Find.Replacement.ClearFormatting With Selection.Find .Forward = True .Wrap = wdFindContinue .Format = False .MatchCase = False .MatchWholeWord = False .MatchWildcards = False .MatchSoundsLike = False .MatchAllWordForms = False End With For J = 98 To 1 Step -1 sFindText = "Widget" & Right("00" & Trim(CStr(J)), 2) sReplaceText = "Widget" & Right("00" & Trim(CStr(J + 1)), 2) Selection.Find.Text = sFindText Selection.Find.Replacement.Text = sReplaceText Selection.Find.Execute Replace:=wdReplaceAll Next J End Sub
Obviously, this macro is tailored to a specific need—the word Widget followed by a two-digit number. If you need to modify the macro to fit your numbering needs, you can do so by changing the For ... Next loop (so it doesn't go from 98 to 1) or by changing the text being searched for (which is assigned to the sFindText variable).
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 (12121) 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: Bumping Numbers in a Document.
Comprehensive VBA Guide Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) is the language used for writing macros in all Office programs. This complete guide shows both professionals and novices how to master VBA in order to customize the entire Office suite for their needs. Check out Mastering VBA for Office 2010 today!
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