How to: Programmatically Loop Through Found Items in Documents

The Find class has a Found property, which returns true whenever a searched-for item is found. You can loop through all instances found in a Range using the Execute method.

Applies to: The information in this topic applies to document-level projects and application-level projects for Word 2013 and Word 2010. For more information, see Features Available by Office Application and Project Type.

To loop through found items

1. Declare a Range object.

   The following code example can be used in a document-level customization.

   Dim rng As Word.Range = Me.Content
   

   Word.Range rng = this.Content; 
   

   The following code example can be used in an application-level add-in. This example uses the active document.

   Dim rng As Word.Range = Me.Application.ActiveDocument.Content
   

   Word.Document document = this.Application.ActiveDocument;
   Word.Range rng = document.Content;
   

2. Use the Found property in a loop to search for all occurrences of the string in the document, and increment an integer variable by 1 each time the string is found.

   rng.Find.ClearFormatting()
   rng.Find.Forward = True
   rng.Find.Text = "find me"
   
   rng.Find.Execute()
   
   Do While rng.Find.Found = True
       intFound += 1
       rng.Find.Execute()
   Loop
   

   rng.Find.ClearFormatting(); 
   rng.Find.Forward = true; 
   rng.Find.Text = "find me"; 
   
   rng.Find.Execute(
       ref missing, ref missing, ref missing, ref missing, ref missing, 
       ref missing, ref missing, ref missing, ref missing, ref missing,
       ref missing, ref missing, ref missing, ref missing, ref missing);
   
   while (rng.Find.Found) 
   { 
       intFound++;
       rng.Find.Execute(
           ref missing, ref missing, ref missing, ref missing, ref missing, 
           ref missing, ref missing, ref missing, ref missing, ref missing,
           ref missing, ref missing, ref missing, ref missing, ref missing);
   } 
   

3. Display the number of times the string was found in a message box.

   MessageBox.Show("Strings found: " & intFound.ToString())
   

   MessageBox.Show("Strings found: " + intFound.ToString()); 
   

The following examples show the complete method.

Document-Level Customization Example

To loop through items in a document-level customization

• The following example shows the complete code for a document-level customization. To use this code, run it from the ThisDocument class in your project.

  Private Sub FindLoop()
      Dim intFound As Integer = 0
      Dim rng As Word.Range = Me.Content
  
      rng.Find.ClearFormatting()
      rng.Find.Forward = True
      rng.Find.Text = "find me"
  
      rng.Find.Execute()
  
      Do While rng.Find.Found = True
          intFound += 1
          rng.Find.Execute()
      Loop
  
      MessageBox.Show("Strings found: " & intFound.ToString())
  End Sub
  

  private void FindLoop() 
  { 
      int intFound = 0; 
      Word.Range rng = this.Content; 
  
      rng.Find.ClearFormatting(); 
      rng.Find.Forward = true; 
      rng.Find.Text = "find me"; 
  
      rng.Find.Execute(
          ref missing, ref missing, ref missing, ref missing, ref missing, 
          ref missing, ref missing, ref missing, ref missing, ref missing,
          ref missing, ref missing, ref missing, ref missing, ref missing);
  
      while (rng.Find.Found) 
      { 
          intFound++;
          rng.Find.Execute(
              ref missing, ref missing, ref missing, ref missing, ref missing, 
              ref missing, ref missing, ref missing, ref missing, ref missing,
              ref missing, ref missing, ref missing, ref missing, ref missing);
      } 
  
      MessageBox.Show("Strings found: " + intFound.ToString()); 
  }
  

Application-Level Add-in Example

To loop through items in an application-level add-in

• The following example shows the complete code for an application-level add-in. To use this code, run it from the ThisAddIn class in your project.

  Private Sub FindLoop()
      Dim intFound As Integer = 0
      Dim rng As Word.Range = Me.Application.ActiveDocument.Content
  
      rng.Find.ClearFormatting()
      rng.Find.Forward = True
      rng.Find.Text = "find me"
  
      rng.Find.Execute()
  
      Do While rng.Find.Found = True
          intFound += 1
          rng.Find.Execute()
      Loop
  
      MessageBox.Show("Strings found: " & intFound.ToString())
  End Sub
  

  private void FindLoop()
  {
      int intFound = 0;
      Word.Document document = this.Application.ActiveDocument;
      Word.Range rng = document.Content;
  
      rng.Find.ClearFormatting();
      rng.Find.Forward = true;
      rng.Find.Text = "find me";
  
      rng.Find.Execute(
          ref missing, ref missing, ref missing, ref missing, ref missing,
          ref missing, ref missing, ref missing, ref missing, ref missing,
          ref missing, ref missing, ref missing, ref missing, ref missing);
  
      while (rng.Find.Found)
      {
          intFound++;
          rng.Find.Execute(
              ref missing, ref missing, ref missing, ref missing, ref missing,
              ref missing, ref missing, ref missing, ref missing, ref missing,
              ref missing, ref missing, ref missing, ref missing, ref missing);
      }
  
      MessageBox.Show("Strings found: " + intFound.ToString());
  }
  

See Also

Tasks

How to: Programmatically Search for and Replace Text in Documents

How to: Programmatically Set Search Options in Word

How to: Programmatically Define and Select Ranges in Documents

How to: Programmatically Restore Selections After Searches

Concepts

Optional Parameters in Office Solutions