How to set the Word Search default focus to “Browse results”?

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Word 2010 Search (Ctrl-F) brings up the Navigation pane on the left with three options to display the “hits” in the area below the search box:
Left: “Browse the headings in your document” (headings only)
Center: “Browse the pages in your document” (“postage stamp” displays of “hit” pages)
Right: “Browse the results from your current search” (“hit” text on full-size page)

When I create a new document or open an existing one, the display focus is the left, “headings” choice. However, almost all of my searches are for strings within the text. I almost never search for headings. Is there a way to set the default focus to the right hand “results” choice?

Clicking on “results” after searching sets the preference only until I close the document. When I reopen it, the focus is back on “headings.”

I tried editing the template, but the focus choice doesn’t “stick” that way, either.

Is there a simple way to fix this? Or is there a complicated way (perhaps with a macro that traps the Find command and moves the display choice)?

Thank you.

Ken Shaw

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I don’t know how to set that focus – there is little information available on how to manipulate task panes through VBA.

But if you prefer the old style find, which is now called Advanced Find, here is an article that includes instructions on how to jigger Word so you can get to it easily:

http://www.techandlife.com/2010/07/the-new-search-feature-ctrl-f-in-word-2010/

– Jessica

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Jessica –

The old style find is also available through the Replace command, Ctrl-H. You use just the top box. I use this a lot because it lets me search for formatting, which the new Find, Ctrl-F, doesn’t permit without drilling down through submenues. For example, to find a word formatted in bold (which I frequently use for ad hoc headings), I press Ctrl-H, type my search text and press Ctrl-B.

Ken Shaw

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Right – that’s how I access it myself. The new find is useful if you like to see a big list that takes up a chunk of the screen. The old one is much more flexible.

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I have noticed and been bothered by the same behavior. When I checked my own computer today, I found this: A new doc opens without the navigation pane showing (not sure when I did this). When I press Ctrl+f, the navigation pane opens with the focus on the his tab.

When I opened an old file with the navigation pane on when opened, the focus was on the headings tab. I cleared the navigation pane check box on the view tab, saved and closed the file. When I opened it again, the navigation pane was off, and when I pressed Ctrl+f, the pane opened with the focus on the hits tab.

Does this info help?

Pam

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On the Home tab of the Ribbon, click the down arrow to the right of the binoculars at the extreme right end of the Ribbon, and then click Advanced Find, and then More. That should offer an assortment of options at each step.

For global character string searches I confess to resorting to a third-party desktop search engine, in my case Copernic, but you should be able to accomplish the same thing by just typing the string into the search box at Start. You might like to try the free version of Copernic, because if you do a lot of refined searches it can save a lot of time.

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Here is one workaround:
Do a search, set the “Browse the results from your current search” option active, and then close the Navigation pane.
Ctrl + F should cause the Navigation pane to re-open with the “…current search” option set active.
The next step is critical:
Do another search (select a word or phrase from the document, Ctrl +F) while the “…current search” option is set active.

After the above step, the “…current search” option should continue to be the active option in subsequent word/phrase searches.
This also seems to activate the same option in a new or different Word file while the first file remains open (although not reliably — that is, not always).

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