Find and Replace Fields (Word 2002)

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I can find all fields in a document, but cannot replace them with another field, even when I type the field code by hand.
Any suggestions, and is this even possible? My objective is to find and replace an old symbol which is no longer supported with a field.
Thanks in advance.
kw

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I don’t think there is a way using ‘replace’.

I assume that you have a lot of these (or you wouldn’t be asking). It CAN be done by recording a macro

Start by searching for your field to replace – then set your cursor back to the beginning of file.

Then record a Macro, assigned to a key. Record the sequence

ALT+CTRL+Y [ which finds the next occurence of your target
Insert > Field > ….new field [ which replaces it

and stop recording

Then press the assigned key to do it again

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Hi kw:
You can’t do it directly, but you can do it. Here’s how to do it using Find/Replace. Let’s assume you want to replace a {PAGE} field with a {DATE} field.

1. Press Alt+F9 to show field codes.
2. Create a new character style that’s not used elsewhere in your document. Let’s call it NEW.
Wildcards is not checked

find	replace	comment
^19 PAGE	^& Format= Style/NEW	^19 finds the opening field brace & PAGE limits it to page fields; ^& replaces what was found with itself, except the character style is now NEW
PAGE Format=NEW	DATE Format: You can either leave the formatting as is, or revert it back to the original style	This finds only the PAGE text that has the character format of NEW; i.e. only those within a field.

Cheers,

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Phil,

Very nice, I’ve not come across this one before. Is it original or is it general knowledge?

StuartR

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Hi Stuart:
I actually thought this one up myself. Hard to believe. But the technique (of using intermediate steps) is sort of general knowledge (I think)…I first saw it as the solution to getting rid of double paragraph marks in text pasted from emails & other text files.
Cheers,

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I would do this by using the clipboard as the replacement element. To do this:
Create the element you want to use.
Select it and cut (or copy) it
Now open the find and replace dialog and use ^c in the replace with box

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Nice one! I like that much better.

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Thanks for all the great suggestions! This will really help.
Cheers.
kw

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