If you inherit a massive 50-page document where the previous author incorrectly bolded every single occurrence of the word “important,” manually scanning through the text to un-bold the words is incredibly tedious. While most people use the “Find and Replace” tool to swap words, you can actually use the advanced Navigation Pane to search strictly for specific text formatting—and instantly replace it with entirely new formatting—without changing a single letter.
How to Find Formatting
The standard “Find” box will only accept text, so you have to open the advanced menu to expose the formatting options.
- Open your Microsoft Word document.
- Press Ctrl + H on your keyboard to instantly open the “Find and Replace” dialogue box.
- At the bottom left of the box, click the More >> button to expand the advanced search options.
- Click inside the Find what text box, but leave it completely blank.
- At the very bottom of the window, click the Format dropdown button and select Font.
- A new window will appear. Under “Font style,” select Bold, then click OK.
You will now see the word “Font: Bold” listed directly underneath the “Find what” box. Word is now mathematically programmed to ignore the actual letters and strictly hunt for any text on the page that has bold formatting applied to it.
How to Replace Formatting
Now you must tell Word what to do with the bold text once it finds it.
- Click inside the Replace with text box and leave it completely blank.
- Click the Format dropdown button again, and select Font.
- Under “Font style,” select Regular (or “Not Bold”). You can also choose to change the text color to red, or underline it. Click OK.
- You will now see your new formatting instructions listed directly underneath the “Replace with” box.
- Click the Replace All button.
Microsoft Word will instantly rip through your entire 50-page document, locate every single bolded word, and strip the bold formatting away, leaving the actual text completely untouched.