Contact

Search:
This search engine is for the WorldStart Site - not the Store.
Click here for the WorldStart Software Store Search Engine
  Tips & Tricks
 
   
  Computer Info
  Message Board
Newsletter Archives
Computer Tips
Computer Guides
Computer Terms
Free Newsletters
Downloading Guide
Installing Software
Viruses
   
   
 
 

 

   


Tips & Tricks

Find & Replace

Have you ever messed something up in a long document? Maybe you misspelled your company's name or perhaps you stuck the number "7" in when it should have been "8".

Well, most people when faced with this problem go through the entire document line by line and manually replace all the mistakes. Of course, as they are doing it they're probably thinking there has to be a better way.

They're right!

Most word processors have a feature called Find & Replace. It's normally under the Edit menu as "Find & Replace" or just "Replace".

Click the Find & Replace feature in your word processor and you'll get a screen that lets you specify the item you want to replace and a field that lets you specify what you want to replace the item with. Enter your values, hit OK (or whatever command your program uses), and all your mistakes are gone in a flash.

Of course, I need to throw in a word of caution. The Find & Replace feature isn't all that bright. It'll search for the replacement item and replace it whenever it finds it - regardless of whether it makes any sense.

What am I talking about? Let's say you used the number "7" throughout a document then decide you should have used the word "seven" instead. You go to Find & Replace and use "7" as the replace criteria and "seven" as what to replace it with.

Well, if you have a number like:

3752

Find & Replace will "fix" it so it looks like:

3seven52

So use with caution.

Some of your better Find & Replaces have a "Find Next" or "Replace Next" button that let's you go through your document and approve each replacement. Might be a better way to do it unless your 100% sure that the term you're replacing isn't going to be a problem.

One more thing. Sometimes Find & Replace will let you Find & Replace in a selection. So, you select the area you want it to work in and let it go wild. Again, not all Find & Replace features support this, so don't be disappointed if you're doesn't.

 
   

 

 

Great Deals Just For You!

 


Sign up for our highly rated free email newsletters!

Choose Newsletter(s)

Computer Tips
HTML Daily
Plain Text Daily
HTML Weekly

Other Newsletters
Just For Grins
Life's Adventures
MS Office Tips
Software Deals

Enter Email address: