Select all occurrences of a word in Google Docs

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Asked 1 year, 4 months ago

Modified 1 year, 4 months ago

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In MS Word, it is easy to select all occurrences of a word (or any string for that matter) :

Open the Find and Replace interface (Ctrl + H → find)
Enter the string you are looking for (and select options if applicable, e.g. matching case)
Click on Find In → Current selection / Main Document. This selects all occurrences of the string.
Close Find and Replace. You can now do whatever you want with your selection, for instance make all instances of your chosen word bold. (Word does not have multiple cursors, which would be incredible)

How can I do the same within Google Docs ?

asked Aug 3, 2022 at 14:04

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1

Hi. Google Docs has a similar feature (Find and Replace - CTRL + H) which can be used to replace all the instances of a search term BUT... as pointed out by @SpinUp__ADavis, the feature does NOT enable one to make formatting changes (such as to "bold" all instances of the chosen word).
– Tedinoz
Oct 3 at 22:58
2

You asked "How can I do the same within Google Docs ?" The answer is: "with an apps script". no doubt there are some existing precedents; possibly some of these questions on StackOverflow may assist: Google Docs Search entire document and bold words, Finding text (multiple times) and highlighting, Use Google Apps Script to apply heading style to all instances of a word.
– Tedinoz
Oct 3 at 23:06

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