Introducing advanced Find and Replace options in Writer

We've enhanced the Find and Replace tool with more options to make it more useful. You can now set the search scope, specify the type of objects to search for, search using "wildcards," and more. These capabilities provide you with greater granularity and flexibility while executing the Find and Replace operations.

1. Flexible "Find and Replace" scope

Specify the search perimeter to make your search faster and more focused using the "Find & Replace In" option. Instead of the entire document, you can limit Find and Replace operations to tables, current text selection, or footnotes/end notes. For example, you can select only a few paragraphs in the document and limit Find/Find and Replace to only the selected paragraphs.

2. Objects-based search

Locate specific types of objects in your document. For example, you can view all the headings, bookmarks, fields (merge, fillable, and autofill fields), tables, images, footnotes, or end notes.

3. Search using wildcards

Wildcards provide much-needed flexibility by broadening the search scope when you search for a word or text, like a name, but are not sure of the exact spelling. Just substitute a wildcard character in place of the characters you aren't sure of, and the search will highlight all possible variations.

For example, if you wish to search for a word, but know only its first and last letters, you can use the wild card "*" to locate all similar words. The wildcard search "J*y" will yield all variations—"Jimmy, "Johnny," "James was here yesterday," "Jim will save the day," and so on.

Here's a list of some common wildcard characters and what they do.

4. Search using prefix and suffix

This option allows you to search for words that begin or end with a specific pattern. For example, check for words that begin with "comp" (like "computer") in a document. Similarly, you can search using "@zylker.com" to locate the Zylker domain email addresses mentioned in your document.

5. Custom pattern search

Find all words or texts that match a specific pattern. For instance, you can find all the email addresses, URLs, or dates mentioned in the document and replace them, if needed. You can also define your own custom patterns using a combination of wildcard characters.

6. Meta characters search

Use this option to locate tab characters, spaces, em and en dashes, and other special characters in your document. For example, you can search using ^t to locate all the tab characters (tab spaces) in your document.

To launch the Find and Replace tool, just click Ctrl+F/Cmd+F, and click the Advanced Options link in the Find dialog box that opens. You can then use the Find dropdown menu to select the search type (i.e. Plain Text, Wildcard, or Objects search).

That's all for now. Try out the enhanced Find and Replace options and let us know what you think. Need more options? Simply write to us at support@zohowriter.com, or reply to this post.

Happy writing!

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