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: Selecting to the Next Punctuation Mark.

Selecting to the Next Punctuation Mark

Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated May 18, 2019)
This tip applies to Word 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, and 2021


Bruce is writing a macro and needs to make a selection within the document. He knows how to position the insertion point, but after positioning, he needs to select everything from there to the next punctuation mark, including any potential quote marks or apostrophes after the punctuation mark. Bruce wonders if there is an actual command to do this, or if there needs to be some sort of involved code to do the selection.

The first thing to try is to use VBA's built-in ability to move by a sentence at a time. Once you position the insertion point, use the following command:

Selection.MoveRight Unit:=wdSentence, Count:=1, Extend:=wdExtend

The command extends the selection to the right by whatever Word views as a sentence, so it should fulfill your needs. If it doesn't (perhaps it misses some characters that you need included in your selection), then you can try creating your own selection code. Here is an example of one way to develop such code:

With Selection
    .Extend
    .Find.Text = "[,.'" & Chr(146) & Chr(148) & Chr(34) & "]"
    .Find.MatchWildcards = True
    .Find.Execute
    .Find.Text = "[!,.'" & Chr(146) & Chr(148) + Chr(34) & "]"
    .Find.Execute
End With

The Extend property causes Word to select everything starting at the location of the insertion point, and the wildcard search finds all the punctuation characters. The text being searched for is essentially all the punctuation characters, including apostrophes and quote marks. (These can be modified to fit your needs, as desired.) The second find operation (the one that begins with an exclamation point) finds the first non-punctuation character after the initial find is performed. In that way, it will handle multiple punctuation marks in a row.

Note:

If you would like to know how to use the macros described on this page (or on any other page on the WordTips sites), I've prepared a special page that includes helpful information. Click here to open that special page in a new browser tab.

WordTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Word training. (Microsoft Word is the most popular word processing software in the world.) This tip (12341) 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: Selecting to the Next Punctuation Mark.

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

Getting Rid of Persistent Templates

Word uses an open interface that allows add-ons and other programs to expand the way that Word works. Sometimes remnants ...

Discover More

Using Connectors with Shapes

If you add shapes to the drawing canvas, you can use connector lines between those shapes. Here's how to add them to your ...

Discover More

Chopped Off Page Borders

Tired of your page borders not printing out as you expect? The problem could be due to any number of settings or ...

Discover More

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!

More WordTips (ribbon)

Detecting an Open Dialog Box

Macros can be used to perform all sorts of tasks within Word. Some tasks can even occur at whatever time interval you ...

Discover More

Determining the Day of the Year

Need to find out the day of the year for a particular date? It's easy to do if you are using a macro. All you need to do ...

Discover More

Saving Changes when Closing

If you write a macro that makes changes to a document, you may want that macro to save those changes. There are several ...

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 - 4?

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.