Finding Text at the End of a Table Cell

Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated July 12, 2025)

When Peter wants to find a word at the end of a paragraph, he searches for XXX^p and replaces it with YYY^p. This doesn't, however, find words at the very end of table cells. He wonders how he can search and replace the words at the end of table cells and if there is a special code similar to ^p.

There is no special code similar to ^p (end of paragraph) to indicate the end of a cell. There is a trick you can try, however, that works well for many people.

First, create a unique paragraph style that you will use only for the contents of the cells in your table. Make sure you apply this style to all of the cells within the table. Next, use Find and Replace to search for the style. In the Replace With box, enter the code ^& followed by what you want to add to the end of the cell. Then, step through all occurrences and do your replacements, as desired. The ^& code specifies that you want to replace what you found (the text in the cells formatted with the unique style) with what you actually found.

If you want to replace a specific word in the table cells (XXX) with something new (YYY), you can follow the same steps as above, simply search for any occurrences of XXX using the unique table-cell style and replace it with YYY. You'll still want to step through the matches and determine if the replacement should be made on a case-by-case basis, but you will be able to make the changes in your table much quicker.

WordTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Word training. (Microsoft Word is the most popular word processing software in the world.) This tip (13571) applies to Microsoft Word 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, 2021, 2024, and Word in Microsoft 365.

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

Bypassing the Startup Macro

Word allows you to create a macro that is run automatically whenever the program is started. If you want to bypass the ...

Discover More

Displaying the First Worksheet in a Macro

When creating macros, you often have to know how to display individual worksheets. VBA provides several ways you can ...

Discover More

Filtering Columns

The filtering tools provided in Excel make it easy to filter a data list so that only certain rows are displayed. What if ...

Discover More

The First and Last Word on Word! Bestselling For Dummies author Dan Gookin puts his usual fun and friendly candor back to work to show you how to navigate Word 2019. Spend more time working and less time trying to figure it all out! Check out Word 2019 For Dummies today!

More WordTips (ribbon)

Hiding Table Rows on a Printout

When you work with tables in your document, you may want to hide some of rows in those tables so that they don't print ...

Discover More

Preventing a Frame when Converting a Table to Text

Tables, in Word, can either be inline with the rest of your text or the text can wrap around the table. If you have ...

Discover More

Putting Something in Every Cell of a Table

Need to make sure that all the cells of a table have something in them? It's easy to do with a handy little macro.

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 3 + 7?

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.