MS Word: Find-Replace Format with Wildcards?

MumblingSage · Jan 29, 2014

Hello, computer wizzes of AW.

I'm converting a manuscript into an ebook, and I'm about to do what Smashwords Calls the "Nuclear Option": copy & past the whole thing into Notepad to scrub formatting before redoing it all. I'm prepared for that, but beforehand I want to markup all my italics, bold, etc in a way that carries over to .txt format.

I'm thinking the standard *bold* and _italics_. MS Word autocorrect has an option to convert *bold* and _italics_ to real formatting, so that won't be a problem. But I'm currently overwhelmed at the thought of converting 200 pages in the opposite direction. Is there a way I can use find-replace to turn italicized text into _italicized text_?

onesecondglance · Jan 29, 2014

Yes - and it's actually easier than I thought.

- Open Find & Replace (Ctrl-H).
- Click the "More" button to show all the options (e.g. match case, etc.)
- Don't type anything in the Find field, and instead click the "Format" button at the bottom of the F&R dialogue box.
- Select "Font" from the menu, and select Italic in the formatting pop-up.
- Click in the Replace field.
- Click "Format" and select Regular in the formatting pop-up.
- Click the "Special" button - it's next to the "Format" button.
- Select "find what text" from the menu - this will put the characters ^& into the Replace box*.
- Type an underscore character either side of the ^&.

So what you end up with is something like this:

Find
Format: Font: Italic

Replace _^&_
Format: Font: Not Bold, Not Italic

- Hit Replace - I'd go one item at a time rather than going straight into Replace All. Make sure it's working correctly first!

Now, it's not perfect. For instance, if you have a trailing space that's also formatted as italic, then your underscore will appear after that. So you could end up with this sort of thing:

In: This is an example of what could go wrong
Out: _This is an example _of what could go wrong

Instead of this:

Out: _This is an example_ of what could go wrong

So make sure you've formatted things accurately in the first place!

* - I have no idea if you could just type in the ^& or if it only works when selected from the menu - Word can be like that sometimes.

Alexys · Jan 29, 2014

You should be able to type the ^& (I've probably done it a hundred times with ^p, in very old versions of Word).

MumblingSage · Jan 30, 2014

Yes - and it's actually easier than I thought.

- Open Find & Replace (Ctrl-H).
- Click the "More" button to show all the options (e.g. match case, etc.)
- Don't type anything in the Find field, and instead click the "Format" button at the bottom of the F&R dialogue box.
- Select "Font" from the menu, and select Italic in the formatting pop-up.
- Click in the Replace field.
- Click "Format" and select Regular in the formatting pop-up.
- Click the "Special" button - it's next to the "Format" button.
- Select "find what text" from the menu - this will put the characters ^& into the Replace box*.
- Type an underscore character either side of the ^&.

So what you end up with is something like this:

Quote:
Find
Format: Font: Italic

Replace _^&_
Format: Font: Not Bold, Not Italic
- Hit Replace - I'd go one item at a time rather than going straight into Replace All. Make sure it's working correctly first!

Now, it's not perfect. For instance, if you have a trailing space that's also formatted as italic, then your underscore will appear after that. So you could end up with this sort of thing:

In: This is an example of what could go wrong
Out: _This is an example _of what could go wrong

Instead of this:

Out: _This is an example_ of what could go wrong

So make sure you've formatted things accurately in the first place!

* - I have no idea if you could just type in the ^& or if it only works when selected from the menu - Word can be like that sometimes.

I'm afraid I don't have a "Find what text" option in my version of Word (2010). But I'll see what other characters are available!

Alexys said:
You should be able to type the ^& (I've probably done it a hundred times with ^p, in very old versions of Word).

I've been told "^&" is not a valid character for the output box.

*sigh* Looks like I might have a day and night of hand-formatting ahead of me. Thanks for the insights, though, guys! They'll be helpful in the future, I'm sure.

LJD · Jan 30, 2014

MumblingSage said:
I'm afraid I don't have a "Find what text" option in my version of Word (2010). But I'll see what other characters are available!

No? I have Word 2010, and I have it. Only in the "replace" box though; it doesn't work under "find what." (Because it's referring to the text in the "find what" box.)

To find _italic_ text, use: _<*>_

bonitakale · Jan 30, 2014

I just checked (I have Word 2010, also), and "Find What Text" is the tenth item down in the menu. BUT that menu only comes up after you've clicked on the "replace" field. If you hit "special" before clicking on "replace," then "Find What Text" isn't on the menu.

Of all the stupid ways to design it...

onesecondglance · Jan 30, 2014

bonitakale said:
I just checked (I have Word 2010, also), and "Find What Text" is the tenth item down in the menu. BUT that menu only comes up after you've clicked on the "replace" field. If you hit "special" before clicking on "replace," then "Find What Text" isn't on the menu.

Of all the stupid ways to design it...

Well, it needs to know what you're referring to, doesn't it? If your cursor is still in the "Find" field, then of course you can't search for the "Find what" text. That's a recursive loop.

MumblingSage · Jan 30, 2014

Oh, hey, thanks for finding that, Bonitakale! And thanks for sticking with me onesecondglance!

I guess I just have to perform the ritual in the right order for the spirits of MS Office to obey me, then...

Update: It works! Witchcraft, I tell you. We'll all be burned at the stake!

onesecondglance · Jan 31, 2014

Hoorah!

MS Word: Find-Replace Format with Wildcards?

MumblingSage

Inarticulate Herb

onesecondglance

pretending to be awake

Alexys

Took a wrong turn at the Pleiades

MumblingSage

Inarticulate Herb

LJD

bonitakale

onesecondglance

pretending to be awake

MumblingSage

Inarticulate Herb

onesecondglance

pretending to be awake