Find and Replace Text

• Match case only finds text with exactly the same capitalisation. With it off, "Apple", "apple" and "APPLE" all match.
• Whole words only ignores matches inside longer words, so searching for "art" will not change "start" or "party".
• Empty replacement deletes every match, which is handy for removing a repeated word, a tracking code or a stray symbol.

The search is literal: characters such as ., *, ? or $ are matched as themselves, not treated as special patterns. That makes it safe for prices, file paths, code and URLs.

• Rebranding copy: update a product or company name across a long document.
• Fixing repeated typos: correct a misspelling that autocorrect missed throughout a draft.
• Cleaning exported data: swap semicolons for commas, or remove quote marks.
• Localising text: change "color" to "colour" or US dates to UK format.
• Preparing code or templates: replace a placeholder like {{name}} with a real value.

Check the match count before you click Replace All. If it is higher than expected, turn on Whole words only or Match case to narrow it down. Replacing short strings such as "in" or "is" without whole-word matching will almost always change words you did not mean to touch.

For several different replacements, run them one at a time and check the highlights between each. For spacing problems, Remove Extra Spaces is faster, and for changing capitalisation use the Case Converter.

Suppose a document mentions "WidgetPro" 14 times and the product has been renamed "Widget Studio". Some mentions are "WidgetPro's" and one is in a URL, "widgetpro.com".

1. Search for WidgetPro with Match case on. The count shows 14 and every instance is highlighted, including "WidgetPro's".
2. Notice the URL is lower case, so it is not matched. That is what you want, because the web address has not changed.
3. Type Widget Studio as the replacement and click Replace All. "WidgetPro's" becomes "Widget Studio's" automatically.
4. Search again for WidgetPro to confirm the count is now zero.

For one or two changes, editing directly is fine. Once a change appears more than a handful of times, bulk replacing is faster and far more reliable: it is easy to miss the eleventh occurrence when scanning by eye. The live count acts as a checklist, telling you exactly how many places will change before you commit.