tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-524039117682127217.post8756948279622261646..comments2023-04-18T00:44:59.351+10:00Comments on A dead man fell from the sky...: Advanced searching in Microsoft WordGary Corbyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14759372069119740227noreply@blogger.comBlogger53125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-524039117682127217.post-52622955887505034012012-08-02T03:00:39.506+10:002012-08-02T03:00:39.506+10:00Just came across this while looking for advanced w...Just came across this while looking for advanced wildcard tips... Good explanation and example Gary!<br /><br />To Usurper's question about changing the case of every instance of a word: use Find's ability to find all instances <i>(i.e. choose from the "Find In" pulldown button)</i> then drop out of the dialog. All found instances will then be highlighted, so you can press <b>Shift-F3</b> to toggle the case between lower, upper and initial cap.Erichttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14801568293815741694noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-524039117682127217.post-48756828386382353192010-07-27T20:42:02.728+10:002010-07-27T20:42:02.728+10:00Jane, how lovely to see you here!
That's a gr...Jane, how lovely to see you here!<br /><br />That's a great point about escaping the search dialog. <br /><br />I also just discovered you've started your own blog. I'm proud to be Follower #1.Gary Corbyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14759372069119740227noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-524039117682127217.post-66324191018207176182010-07-27T20:21:37.379+10:002010-07-27T20:21:37.379+10:00Gary, I dropped in from DorothyL. Thanks for a ver...Gary, I dropped in from DorothyL. Thanks for a very useful post, especially your lateral-thinking way of counting repetitions of a word! BTW not everyone knows that when doing a straight "Find" in Word, once you've typed in your keyword, you can press Escape and move between occurrences of the word by hitting Control with PageDown or PageUp. Often quicker than the button.Jane Finnishttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08449686136027322303noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-524039117682127217.post-14227330704670276112010-02-26T10:23:39.211+11:002010-02-26T10:23:39.211+11:00That's a good question, Usurper. But there...That's a good question, Usurper. But there's not enough room in a comment space. Let me answer that in another post...Gary Corbyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14759372069119740227noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-524039117682127217.post-60549430169376773592010-02-25T23:38:14.860+11:002010-02-25T23:38:14.860+11:00Say Gary, that I would like to replace every insta...Say Gary, that I would like to replace every instance of a word that is entirely in capitals into a sentence case, as an example say: "APLOMB" to "aplomb" or "Aplomb". How would I put this into regular expressions?Usurperhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05808259712815358183noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-524039117682127217.post-37948906130332261742010-02-11T04:24:05.454+11:002010-02-11T04:24:05.454+11:00Gary,
So many blogs write about things that are of...Gary,<br />So many blogs write about things that are of interest - but you make my life easier! As an author working on my second book, national speaker, child advocate, blogger,director of marketing,residential property manager, wife, mother of 6 (thank goodness they're grown, grandmother of 4 - every minute counts! Thanks for giving me more moments to enjoy! Linda Lee FoltzLinda Lee Foltzhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08741200066931931341noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-524039117682127217.post-42317794037416997272010-02-06T12:54:37.272+11:002010-02-06T12:54:37.272+11:00Thanks Liz. I'm totally with you on defenestr...Thanks Liz. I'm totally with you on defenestration. There should be more of it.Gary Corbyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14759372069119740227noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-524039117682127217.post-42673090275476465562010-02-06T11:30:02.128+11:002010-02-06T11:30:02.128+11:00This is a fabulous tip, thanks!
For the record, I...This is a fabulous tip, thanks!<br /><br />For the record, I'm of the mind that you can never have too many occurrences of the word defenestrate in any of its verb forms. Underused, for certain.<br /><br />Cheers.<br /><br />- LizLiz Czukashttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15656897969180818333noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-524039117682127217.post-16937944682066596622010-02-05T08:19:22.086+11:002010-02-05T08:19:22.086+11:00I use the AutoCrit Editing Wizard. It finds all th...I use the AutoCrit Editing Wizard. It finds all the overused words and phrases automatically without *me* having to be a tech-wizard :-)Janinehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00272527704400070501noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-524039117682127217.post-92140566454996430592010-02-04T14:01:06.738+11:002010-02-04T14:01:06.738+11:00Joylene, I've worked it out!
The * is still...Joylene, I've worked it out! <br /><br />The * is still matching the space character for you. So it's finding the first <i>was</i> followed by any amount of text, and ends with the first ---ing word. Then it highlights all of that as the selection. This could happen to others too. Here's the fix:<br /><br />Instead of *, use an <b>@</b> character, which means <i>one or more of the previous character</i>. This absolutely prevents space matching. So the search pattern is:<br /><br /><b>was [a-z,A-Z]@ing</b><br /><br />Thank you so very much for telling me it failed on you. I've updated the post so it'll work for everyone.Gary Corbyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14759372069119740227noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-524039117682127217.post-74659794325198507732010-02-04T12:13:39.679+11:002010-02-04T12:13:39.679+11:00Joylene, I don't know the answer to that one. ...Joylene, I don't know the answer to that one. I had another read through the Word documentation for Macs but didn't see anything about auto-highlighting. You might need to ask a Mac Office guru, which isn't me.<br /><br />I'd be willing to bet some of the people reading this blog are using Office on a Mac. Any hints, anyone?Gary Corbyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14759372069119740227noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-524039117682127217.post-55691920494304253212010-02-04T09:55:09.580+11:002010-02-04T09:55:09.580+11:00Sorry, I should probably explain. /after I clicked...Sorry, I should probably explain. /after I clicked wildcats, it highlighted large passages, sometimes as many as 40 words.Joylene Nowell Butlerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04497637513532136615noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-524039117682127217.post-48968591217173963922010-02-04T09:40:27.540+11:002010-02-04T09:40:27.540+11:00Hi Joylene, my first thought is, have you clicked ...Hi Joylene, my first thought is, have you clicked the Use Wildcards checkbox? Because if you haven't, Word will treat the wildcards as normal text. I've never used Word:Mac but I just looked up the documentation, which says wildcards work.<br /><br />S.W. yes that's a great tip! You can indeed use replace to change the color or font or just about anything else.<br /><br />Thanks Carrie. :-) I'm due to do an awards post some time, I think.<br /><br />Aha Bill, I'll get you writing code eventually.Gary Corbyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14759372069119740227noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-524039117682127217.post-24078879272625052882010-02-04T04:10:20.203+11:002010-02-04T04:10:20.203+11:00I bow before you in awe and gratitude. I've be...I bow before you in awe and gratitude. I've been using Word for two or three centuries and I knew nothing of this. Thanks, Gary.Bill Kirtonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07675643113010061969noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-524039117682127217.post-25552281351572577482010-02-04T03:02:09.246+11:002010-02-04T03:02:09.246+11:00(FYI: you're getting an award from me on my bl...(FYI: you're getting an award from me on my blog today. No pressure. Ignore it if you want!)CKHBhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17741681893677604323noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-524039117682127217.post-53040899714900722422010-02-04T02:15:40.829+11:002010-02-04T02:15:40.829+11:00I'm curious. This didn't work for me. Is i...I'm curious. This didn't work for me. Is it because I'm using Word:Mac?Joylene Nowell Butlerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04497637513532136615noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-524039117682127217.post-48213699468961515072010-02-04T00:51:06.858+11:002010-02-04T00:51:06.858+11:00Also here from Janet's blog, and thanks for th...Also here from Janet's blog, and thanks for the FANTASTIC tip! I didn't know about the wild card or range specific search bits. That's going to be really handy.<br /><br />I did, however, find a fun way to flag searches in a manuscript without having to click back and forth in the search box and hit "find next" every time - if you use Find & Replace, hit the More Options button on the Replace function, and replace your search key with a different color font, you don't have to keep the search box running and your key stands out scrolling through the manuscript.<br /><br />With that and the wild card/range stuff, I am so set for editing. :-)s.w. vaughnhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09102544611773720262noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-524039117682127217.post-83769275218031805322010-02-03T20:14:14.959+11:002010-02-03T20:14:14.959+11:00Thanks Deb & Sarahlynn!
Peter, I have a feeli...Thanks Deb & Sarahlynn!<br /><br />Peter, I have a feeling someone of your outstanding abilities would make a brilliant author. As long as you get in lots of song name puns, of course.Gary Corbyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14759372069119740227noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-524039117682127217.post-83126167871644910082010-02-03T19:11:05.015+11:002010-02-03T19:11:05.015+11:00Brilliant! Thank you.Brilliant! Thank you.Sarahlynnhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13658866017847046987noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-524039117682127217.post-52585541030646988392010-02-03T19:06:04.487+11:002010-02-03T19:06:04.487+11:00Thanks. This makes me want to write a novel just s...Thanks. This makes me want to write a novel just so I can look for stuff to purge from it.<br />==============<br /> Detectives Beyond Borders<br />"Because Murder Is More Fun Away From Home"<br /> <a href="http://www.detectivesbeyondborders.blogspot.com/" rel="nofollow">http://www.detectivesbeyondborders.blogspot.com/</a>Peter Rozovskyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09977933481463759162noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-524039117682127217.post-67487616738585685982010-02-03T13:58:10.038+11:002010-02-03T13:58:10.038+11:00Wow! Great tips!!! Thank you! I'm bookmarki...Wow! Great tips!!! Thank you! I'm bookmarking and linking back.<br /><br />Janet Reid sent me your way.Deb Salisbury, Magic Seeker and Mantua-Makerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01513482264195697450noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-524039117682127217.post-48052299807704397972010-02-03T12:11:36.506+11:002010-02-03T12:11:36.506+11:00Hey Stuart! My not-so-inner geek thanks you.
A...Hey Stuart! My not-so-inner geek thanks you. <br /><br />And congratulations on The Ghosts of Belfast being optioned for film.Gary Corbyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14759372069119740227noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-524039117682127217.post-60472972053128243032010-02-03T11:30:18.996+11:002010-02-03T11:30:18.996+11:00My inner geek salutes you, sir.My inner geek salutes you, sir.Stuart Nevillehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03883631620345577504noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-524039117682127217.post-26350631491834272712010-02-03T11:02:11.805+11:002010-02-03T11:02:11.805+11:00My pleasure Jemi.My pleasure Jemi.Gary Corbyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14759372069119740227noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-524039117682127217.post-52319246706510997002010-02-03T10:59:34.951+11:002010-02-03T10:59:34.951+11:00I'm another drop in from Janet's site. Wow...I'm another drop in from Janet's site. Wow! What a time save - thank you. Really!!Jemi Fraserhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02214408467456320167noreply@blogger.com