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Why does the "Find and Replace" option sometimes work and then sometimes not? It's a vital part of my life as a writer and editor to be able to use the function. For example, I'm editing a 350-page document, and the writer uses two spaces at the end of a sentence when the publisher requires only one space. Using "Find and Replace," this job can be done in a matter of seconds. Without it, using the "Find"-only method and then manually replacing each double space with a single space can take forever. The issue of the "Find and Replace" not working has been going on since Word 2007. What can I do to fix the problem permanently?
A family of Microsoft word processing software products for creating web, email, and print documents.
Locked Question. This question was migrated from the Microsoft Support Community. You can vote on whether it's helpful, but you can't add comments or replies or follow the question.
What happens when Find & Replace fails? Is there an error message?
In particular, if Word says that it can't find the text you are searching for, the reason might be some undesired settings in the Find & Replace dialog box; you can reset those back to the defaults by restarting Word.
Thank you. That's just it. It simply doesn't work. No error message or anything. When I click on "Find and Replace," nothing at all happens. Control-H doesn't work, and neither does the "Go To" function. I have restarted Word and rebooted the computer as well. "Find and Replace" came back, but since I've had this issue for years - and I don't want to be negative - but it always happens again and is entirely frustrating since I'm paying monthly for the service and not getting the service I need. As a writer and editor, I can't underscore the importance of "Find and Replace" and I use it in probably all documents that I edit. I've even uninstalled Word entirely, only to have "Find and Replace" quit working again.
OK, so the Ctrl+H shortcut does not respond, sometimes. This could be caused by some sort of add-in, but I have no idea which one, because I have never seen the issue myself. Steps to troubleshoot add-ins can be found in the article at https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/office/troubleshoot/word/issues-when-start-or-use-word.
Another possibility is that some other program on your computer has "hi-jacked" Ctrl+H. I suggest that you try assigning a different shortcut to the EditReplace command, via the Customize Keyboard dialog box (File > Options > Customize Ribbon > Customize).
Thank you. That's just it. It simply doesn't work. No error message or anything. When I click on "Find and Replace," nothing at all happens. Control-H doesn't work, and neither does the "Go To" function. I have restarted Word and rebooted the computer as well. "Find and Replace" came back, but since I've had this issue for years - and I don't want to be negative - but it always happens again and is entirely frustrating since I'm paying monthly for the service and not getting the service I need. As a writer and editor, I can't underscore the importance of "Find and Replace" and I use it in probably all documents that I edit. I've even uninstalled Word entirely, only to have "Find and Replace" quit working again.
The Repair option did not work. I will try the uninstall after I have finished a deadline project and will let you know how it worked. That may take one or two days, but I will be in touch. Thank you.
Hi, Sweet
I am Akiva independent advisor
try to repair MS Office by following the steps of the following link
https://support.office.com/en-us/article/repair...
I hope it helps