More Microsoft Word Answers
Question Library
Ask a question about Microsoft Word
Volunteer
Experts of the Month
Expert Login
Awards
About Us
Tell friends
Link to Us
Disclaimer
|
| |
|
|
| |
| | | |
About Suzanne S. Barnhill
Expertise
I've been using Word for Windows since version 2.0 (1992), and the more I learn
about it, the more I realize how little I know. But I may know a few things
that you don't, and I'll help if I can. I answer many questions every day in
Microsoft's peer support newsgroups and as a result have been awarded the
MVP (Most Valuable Professional) designation by Microsoft Corporation. You
may be able to find the answer to your question at the Word MVPs' FAQ site or at my own Word FAQ site, so please check those first! Please, no questions about VBA (macros), Registry editing, networks, or complex merges, as I have no experience with these aspects of Word, nor do I have any experience with Word for the Mac.
Experience
I have a master's degree in classics (Latin), which is surprisingly helpful, though I no longer teach. The things I am proudest of: Having raised two children to maturity, both Merit Scholars, both college graduates (one a philosophy major!), one Phi Beta Kappa (from Harvard!); having been made a Paul Harris Fellow by my Rotary club; having been designated a Microsoft MVP.
Education/Credentials
B.A. (Latin), Agnes Scott College, 1966; M.A. (Classics), Emory University, 1972.
| | |
| |
You are here: Experts > Computing/Technology > Microsoft Software > Microsoft Word > Word: Find and Replace.
Expert: Suzanne S. Barnhill - 10/31/2009
Question
QUESTION: I want to replace all instances of Proper noun in a word document (i.e. Names starting with Capital Letter) to Bold. Can you please provide me a solution asap.
ANSWER: You can certainly find all words that begin with a capital letter and format them as bold, but this will not guarantee that they are proper nouns, as you would also find words that begin a sentence. To find all words beginning with a capital, click More to expand the Replace dialog and check the box for "Use wildcards." Then search for:
<[A-Z]*>
Leave the "Replace with" box blank or put ^& in it (it won't make any difference) and press Ctrl+B to make it say Format: Font: Bold. Replace All.
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word) 1999-2009
---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------
QUESTION: Hi Suzanne,
Thanks for your reply, however, my question is still there.
As per your search criteria, it will only search CAPITAL LETTERS, whereas I would like to search the words beginning with Capital letter eg. 'Financial Services', then it should be formatted as Bold by the replacement command. It means that it will search 'Financial' and make it Bold, then it will search 'Services' and make it Bold and so on. I too came out with a solution for the problem and it worked, but I have to search & replace them one by one. Which is why I was looking for a better advise from some experts. Please help if there is any way out.
My search criteria:
Find:
[A-Z]{1,100}[a-z]{1,100}
Use Wildcards
Replace:
Font: Bold
Answer
The syntax I gave you will find all words beginning with a capital letter, whether the rest of the letters are capitalized or lowercase. If you use it exactly as I typed it:
<[A-Z]*>
I think you will find it works. The angle brackets represent the beginning and end of a word, and the asterisk represents any number of characters following the capital letter.
Yours will also work but is needlessly complex. It is not necessary to search one by one to boldface all such words, but it is necessary if you want to omit words that are just the first word in a sentence, and I don't see any way around that.
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word) 1999-2009
Add to this Answer Ask a Question
|
|
