How to Find and Replace in Google Docs – Complete Guide

How to Find and Replace in Google Docs 3
Key Takeaways: How to Find and Replace in Google Docs

To Find and Replace in Google Docs

  1. Open your Google Doc.
  2. Go to Edit > Find and Replace.
  3. Use the Find search box.
  4. Use “Next” to locate matches.
  5. Use “Ctrl + H” for a quick Find box.

OR

  1. Open Find and Replace.
  2. Enter the word to find.
  3. Enter the word to replace.
  4. Use “Next” to move through matches.
  5. Use “Replace” or “Replace All” to replace text.

OR

  1. Open Google Docs on your phone.
  2. Tap three dots > Find and Replace.
  3. Use the Find box.
  4. Tap “Next” for matches.
  5. Tap three dots to replace or replace all.
  6. Enter the replacement text and tap “Replace” or “Replace All“.

Hi. In this article, we will learn how to find and replace in Google Docs. Find and replace is one of the handiest tools created by Google developers inside their applications like Docs, Sheets, and Slides, to ease down our work and save a lot of time. We can use find and replace for two reasons, first to find and check if a word or sentence exists, and also where it exists, the second reason is to replace a specific word or sentence with another. Sometimes, we are done with a document, but then we need to make a small change may be a spelling change or a wordy change. We search for the word and pass the replacement word and within a few clicks, all the entries would be changed in a second.

Finding and replacing text in Google Docs is an optimal way to make multiple edits quickly and optimize the original document, without making some other errors while making changes. Another effective method for improving the efficiency of documents, especially for those who work remotely, is to make a quick change for a word or sentence if not liked, or misdirected by your client. So, today we will learn everything about the find and replace, and will also see some effective ways of using these tools.

Importance of learning Find and Replace in Google Docs

We work with so much documentation for various projects, and sometimes, it’s certain that we need to make some changes after a file is done. There are more workarounds people use to utilize the functionality of the Find and Replace feature. We can find and see the number of occurrences of a word or phrase in the document, or we are working on keywords we can make sure the keyword density is per the requirement, and can also make sure that there are no spelling errors in the keywords.

The basic usage of Find and replace is to find words and replace them with new words, we can do this manually but it will take a massive amount of time, and a high certainty of error will also be there, so knowing all these reasons and purposes of Find and replace feature, we need to learn how to Find and Replace in Google Docs.

How to Find and Replace in Google Docs?

From here, we will first see the basic usage of Find and replace, and then I will show you some workarounds people use this feature for other purposes, and I will teach how you can use find and replace for various purposes. Its a detailed tool and allows you so many things to do without going to any external source

Find Words or Phrases in Google Docs

In this section, we will learn how to Find and replace in Google Docs to find words or phrases, sometimes, we want to see if some text exists in our document, and we may need to clear any slang words, so we search for them in find to make sure that they do not exist. Sometimes, we want to move to a position in the document, and we remember a specific word from that section, so we can type it in the Find box and can move to that position like a bookmark. Let’s see a simple usage of Find and Replace on Google Docs.

Step 1

Go to Edit in the main menu, and then click on the Find and Replace button

How to Find and Replace in Google Docs 1

Step 2

A pop-up window will appear, here you can use the Find search box to Find a word or phrase

How to Find and Replace in Google Docs 2

Step 3

Type anything in the Find box, and if there is a match you will see in the background of this window, that your screen has moved to the position where the match case is found

How to Find and Replace in Google Docs 3

Step 4

This is how you can find specific words or phrases, you can also see the number of match cases here

How to Find and Replace in Google Docs 4

Step 5

You can also use a Keyboard shortcut Ctrl + h to open a precise version of the Find and Replace box on the top of your document.

How to Find and Replace in Google Docs 5

Also note that the Find and Replace detailed pop-up window is flexible, you can click hold and change the box position if you have something hiding behind it.

Find and Replace Words or Phrases in Google Docs

In this section, we will see how to find and replace in Google Docs, so first we will find some words or phrases, and then we will replace them with new words. This is the case we use when we have a new brand name (most likely) or a change in any name that is unique, for example, you completed a document and gave credits to Mr. John wood. But later you came to know that the correct name is Mr. Wood John. Now you don’t have any idea that whereas in the document you have written an incorrect name, here you will simply find Mr. John wood and replace it with Mr. Wood John and you’re done.

Step 1

Open Find and Replace from the Edit menu

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Step 2

In the Find search box write the word or phrase you want to find

How to Find and Replace in Google Docs 7

Step 3

Now in the Replace search box write the word or phrase from which you want to replace the found text.

Now you have four buttons to click on, you have Next, Previous, Replace, and Replace All

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Step 4

The next button will take you to the next match case of the searched word or phrase

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Step 5

The Previous button will take back to the previous match case

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Step 6

The Replace button will replace the word in the Find search box with the text in the Replace search box only for the current match case.
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Step 7

The Replace all will understandably replace all the match cases with the text written in the Replace search box.

This is how to use Find and Replace in Google Docs.

How to Find and Replace in Google Docs 12

How to Find and Replace in Google Docs – Mobile Devices

In this section, we will learn how to Find and Replace in Google Docs on Mobile Devices. smartphones are in our pockets and we can do almost anything using a smartphone with modern technology. We have a Google Docs application available for Android and IOS, and we can also access Google Docs using our browser, or any docs editor. So, we need to know how to Find and Replace in Google Docs using Mobile Devices.

Step 1

After opening Google docs on your smartphone. Click on the three vertical dots in the top right corner to open the context menu.
How to Find and Replace in Google Docs 13

Step 2

Select the Find and Replace option from the list

How to Find and Replace in Google Docs 14

Step 3

You will have the Find search box on the top

How to Find and Replace in Google Docs 15

Step 4

Write something to find, and tap on the Search icon from your screen-keyboard

How to Find and Replace in Google Docs 16

Step 5

A small alert message will tell you about the found occurrences, and all the match cases will be green colored.

How to Find and Replace in Google Docs 17

Step 6

Again, click on the three dots, and now you have two options Replace, and Replace All pick an option

How to Find and Replace in Google Docs 18

How to Find and Replace in Google Docs 19

Step 7

Now you have another search box for Replace with… at the bottom, write a new word to replace the found word with it

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How to Find and Replace in Google Docs 21

Step 8

Once you have written the Replace text, now you have a small Replace button on your bottom right, click on it to replace.

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If you have selected Replace All option from the three dots in the fifth step, then there will be the Replace all button instead of Replace

How to Find and Replace in Google Docs 23

This is how to use Find and Replace on Mobile Devices, this method works the same on IOS devices as well.

I hope you find this tutorial helpful.

Important Notes

  • You can use Ctrl + H shortcut key to open a small Find search box on the top right side of your document with a placeholder “Find in Document”, this small pop-up has some more buttons to open the replace tool too, you can do anything related to find and replace using this shorthand method.
  • People use Find and Replace to make sure all their spellings for a specific keyword or keyphrase are correct
  • People also use find and replace to check the keyword density of a unique word.
  • We can also use Find and Replace to change the spelling, for example, if you have written google docs in hurry, and now you need to correct it, you can write google docs in the Find search box, and Google Docs in the Replace search box and then click on Replace All.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is the Process of Finding and Replacing Words Similar in Microsoft Word and Google Docs?

The process of finding and replacing words in Microsoft Word and Google Docs is similar. Both platforms offer a find and replace tool which allows users to easily search for specific words or phrases and replace them with new ones. This tool simplifies the editing process, making it convenient and efficient to modify text. Discover how to replace words on either platform effortlessly.

What is Match Case checkbox in the Find and Replace window?

The Match case checkbox is used to tell Google Docs, whether you are searching for case-sensitive match cases or not. This checkbox is unchecked by default which means that the overall find and replace function will not consider anything case-sensitive, if you check on it, then you will only find the match cases where the case also matches.

Can we revert the changes done by Find and Replace?

Yes, reverting the changes done by Find and Replace tool is possible and very easy, if you have made the changes using Replace or Replace All button, you can use Ctrl + z (Undo) key to revert your changes. Or you can go to the Edit menu and click on Undo option.

Conclusion

Wrapping up how to Find and Replace in Google Docs. I have tried to teach all the methods and the procedure to perform Find and Replace in your documents using this handy built-in tool. Find and replace is a universal tool you can use on Google Docs, Google Sheets, Google Slides, Google Data Studio, Microsoft Word, Microsoft Excel, Microsoft PowerPoint, A simple Website, your blog, WordPress, and so on.

I hope you like this article and have learned Find and Replace properly. I will see you soon with another useful guide. Keep learning with Office Demy.

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M. Shaiq Ansari

Hi, I am Shaiq, I am a highly skilled technical writer working full-time for Office Demy. I am specialized in Google Workspace and Microsoft Office applications. With a background in Software Engineering, I possess a deep understanding of the intricate functionalities and features of these productivity tools. Connect me on Linkedin https://www.linkedin.com/in/shaiq-ansari/

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