Highlighting is a standard job in Microsoft Phrase, permitting readers to rapidly discover particular phrases or phrases. If the textual content continuously happens, manually highlighting all cases can be tedious and pointless. On this article, I’ll present you two methods to focus on recurring textual content: utilizing Phrase’s “Discover and Substitute” and “Discover” choices. Each are efficient instruments for reviewing surrounding textual content relatively than making a blanket change. Each are simple to do — however include just a few limitations.
I’m utilizing (desktop) Microsoft 365, however you should utilize earlier variations. You may work along with your doc or obtain the easy demonstration .docx file.
What’s the shortcut to focus on sure phrases?
The keyboard shortcut for Discover & Substitute is Ctrl + H on Home windows or Command + F on Mac.
Easy methods to spotlight in Phrase utilizing Discover & Substitute
To spotlight in Phrase, go to the Substitute menu on the Dwelling bar. Utilizing the shortcut or choosing the menu will open the Discover & Substitute field. Seek for the phrase you wish to spotlight within the Discover area. Choosing “Discover Subsequent” will spotlight the phrase within the doc.
After highlighting, you possibly can rapidly peruse your doc and make updates as mandatory. The highlighting will keep in place till you take away it. You may even save the highlights.
Nevertheless, all this fast highlighting has its limits:
- In the event you spotlight one other phrase or phrase — whatever the spotlight shade you employ — Phrase will take away the outcomes of the Spotlight All job.
- In the event you take away the spotlight from any of the highlighted cases, Phrase will take away all of them.
Now, let’s do the identical factor utilizing Discover within the Navigation pane.
SEE: Microsoft Phrase usually autoformats an em sprint, however there are methods to incorporate an em sprint manually.
Easy methods to spotlight in Phrase utilizing Discover
There’s multiple strategy to spotlight recurring textual content, and also you’ll wish to be conversant in each.
Totally different strategies may go relying on the model of Phrase you might be utilizing. For now, we’ll use the Discover choice, however you possibly can skip selecting a spotlight shade as a result of Phrase will ignore the setting. The next might spotlight textual content in older variations of Phrase:
- Click on Discover within the Modifying group or press Ctrl+F to open the Navigation pane.
- From the textual content dropdown, select Choices, examine the Spotlight All setting, and click on OK.
- Within the textual content management, enter the chosen phrase (on this case, “video”) and press Enter. Phrase will robotically spotlight all cases.

The identical caveats apply as earlier than when attempting to work with subsequent highlighting. As well as, if you shut the Navigation pane, all highlights disappear. Because of this, I discover this feature much less versatile, however in the event you’re working within the Navigation pane for different causes, it really works properly.
Highlighting textual content in Phrase for net
In Phrase for an online browser, use the identical keyboard shortcuts (Ctrl + H on Home windows or Command + F on Mac) as above to open the Discover sidebar within the Navigation part. Typing a phrase or character into the search field will spotlight it within the physique of the textual content. Along side the search bar are settings that may spotlight complete phrases solely or match circumstances.
How can one simply determine and exchange duplicate phrases in a Microsoft Phrase doc?
As soon as phrases have been chosen utilizing Discover, Substitute will likely be simple to identify. The Substitute and Substitute All buttons sit on the backside of the Discover and Substitute menu in modern variations of the Phrase utility, or beside Discover within the Navigation tab within the browser model. Insert the phrase you wish to exchange the highlighted textual content with and choose Substitute to make one change or Substitute All to use the change to the whole doc.
Megan Crouse up to date this text in January 2025.