Tip of the week # 498
13 November 2016


Reveal, select and modify all text with similar formatting (Microsoft Word and Outlook) *

Some time ago I've tried to make you fall in love with SHIFT + F1 to examine the formatting that is in effect in different parts of your document or email. But did you know you can also use it to select all text with similar formatting and quickly change it? That way you can find, for example, all headings you've made bold with a specific font size and change all of them in one go.

Here's how:

  1. Put your cursor in the text you want to change throughout your email or document.
  2. Press SHIFT + F1.
  3. In the Reveal Formatting pane point to the text in the box below Selected text (this box shows the text you selected in the previous step) and click on the down arrow that appears.
  4. Click on Select All Text With Similar Formatting.
  5. Change the formatting as normal or use the Clear Formatting option from the drop down arrow to remove all formatting from the selected text.

You can also compare the formatting in different sections, but I'll explain that in a future tip.


* Unless stated otherwise, these tips were written for Microsoft Office 2010.