How to Search for a Word in Google Docs (2 Methods)

The best way to Search for a Word in Google Docs: Open your document > Click “Edit” > “Find and replace” > In the “Find” field, enter your word > Click “Next” or “Previous” to navigate.
Another good way to Search for a Word in Google Docs: Open your document > Press “Ctrl + F” (or “Cmd + F” on Mac) > Enter your word in the search box > Use the search window arrows to move between results.
The fastest way to Search for a Word in Google Docs: Open your document > Click “Edit” > “Find and replace” > In “Find,” enter the word to replace. In “Replace with,” enter the new word > Click “Next,” “Previous,” “Replace,” or “Replace all“

In this article, you will learn how to search for a word in google docs.

Google Docs is a free, online, and web-based word processor offered by Google. It has many advantages such as smooth real-time collaboration, the ability to see the history of changes in the document, auto-saving, and the ability to work from anywhere. Whether you are using Google Docs to write a book, a research paper, or your resume, you can get many benefits from google docs’ features.

One of the features that google docs offer is the search feature which allows you to look for a specific word or phrase in a document by implementing a search in the entire document. In this article, you will find a step-by-step guide on how to search for a word in google docs.

If you are interested to learn about how we can add, edit or remove a hyperlink in google docs, please follow the link below.

How to Add, Edit & Remove a Hyperlink in Google Docs

Table of Contents

Benefits of using Search in Google Docs

As I said above, the Search feature allows you to look for a word or a phrase in an entire document instead of having to look for it manually. Besides this, here are some other benefits of using the search feature in google docs:

The first and most obvious benefit of using the search feature is to access the information you are looking for easily. Instead of having to scan the entire document for a piece of information, you can just use the search feature.
The word search feature helps people who have to use a specific format. For example, if you have to add a keyword, it helps you keep track of how many times you’ve used it.
It helps you edit the text and fix mistakes using the Find and replace feature. Sometimes, you realize that you need to make some edits or delete some words or expressions. In this case, you can use the Find and replace feature instead of making the edits manually which will consume a lot of time, especially if the document is long.

How to Search for a Word in Google Docs

Because of all the reasons above, it’s important to learn how to search for a word in google docs. Here is a step-by-step guide:

How to search for a word in google docs using Find and replace

Step 1: Open the document in which you are searching for the word

Step 2: Click Edit then click Find and replace

Step 3: The Find and replace window will pop-out.

Step 4: Besides Find, write the word you are looking for.

Step 5: All the words that match your search will be selected.

Step 6: To go to the next place where the word is used, click Next. to go to the previous place, click Previous

How to search for a word in google docs using the search tool

Step 1: Open the document in which you are searching for the word

Step 2: Press Ctrl + F (Cmd + F in mac)

Step 3: The Search tool will appear in the top-right corner.

Step 4: Add the word or the phrase that you are looking for in the box.

Step 5: All the words that match your search will be highlighted

Step 6: You can move between the words using the arrows in the search window

How to Replace a Word in Google Docs

Replacing a word in google docs is pretty easy. Here is how to do it:

Step 1: Open the document in which you are searching for the word

Step 2: Click Edit then click Find and replace.

Step 3: The Find and replace window will pop-out

Step 4: Next to Find, write the word that you want to replace. Then, next to Replace with, write what you want to replace it with.

Step 5: Click Next and Previous to switch between the words

Step 6: Click Replace to replace the words that you want.

Step 7: To replace all the words, click Replace all.

Notes

Now that you’ve learned how to search for words, there are some notes that you should consider:

The search feature is not case-sensitive
You can use “Match case” and “Match using regular expressions” options to customize your search

Conclusion

Google docs is a famous text editor that offers many useful features such as real-time collaboration and auto-saving. One of those features is word search which allows you to look for a word in a document without the need to scan the entire document. In this article, you’ve learned how to search for a word in google docs. You can search for a word by pressing Ctrl + F and then typing the word you are looking for. Or you can go to Edit > Find and replace and type the word you look for. Also, you can replace one word for another in the entire document. Finally, note that the search is not case-sensitive.