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How to Find and Replace Font Formatting in Word for Mac

By Erin Wright

This tutorial shows how to find and replace font formatting in Word for Mac. Font formatting includes style (i.e., italics or bold font), color, size, and underlining.

First, we will find and replace font formatting in the whole document. Then, we will find and replace font formatting applied to specific text. We will close with two important tips for finding and replacing font formatting.

Table of Contents:

  • How to Find and Replace Font Formatting in the Whole Document
  • How to Find and Replace Font Formatting Applied to Specific Text
  • Two Tips for Finding and Replacing Font Formatting

Watch all the steps shown here in real time!

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The images below are from Word for Microsoft 365 for Mac. These steps are similar in Word 2021 for Mac, Word 2019 for Mac, and Word 2016 for Mac.

Are you on a PC? Please see “How to Find and Replace Font Formatting Microsoft Word.”

How to Find and Replace Font Formatting in the Whole Document

For a basic tutorial about finding and replacing text, please see “How to Find and Replace Text in Word for Mac.”

For this example, we will replace all bold text with regular text. Please modify these steps according to your own needs.

  1. Select the Edit menu.
Edit menu in Word for Mac 365
Figure 1. Edit menu
  1. Select Find from the drop-down menu.
Find option in the Edit menu in Word for Mac 365
Figure 2. Find option
  1. Select Advanced Find and Replace from the submenu.
Advanced Find and Replace option in the Edit Menu in Word for Mac 365
Figure 3. Advanced Find and Replace option
  1. Select the Replace tab in the Find and Replace dialog box.
Replace tab in the Find and Replace dialog box in Word for Mac 365
Figure 4. Replace tab
  1. Insert your cursor into the Find what text box. (Be careful not to type anything.)
Find What text box in the Find and Replace dialog box in Word for Mac 365
Figure 5. Find what text box
  1. Select the More button.
More button in the Find and Replace dialog box in Word for Mac 365
Figure 6. More button
  1. Select All in the Search menu.
Search menu in the Find and Replace dialog box in Word for Mac 365
Figure 7. All search menu option
  1. Select the Format button.
Format button in the Find and Replace dialog box in Word for Mac 365
Figure 8. Format button
  1. Select Font from the drop-down menu.
Font option in the Format menu in the Find and Replace dialog box in Word for Mac 365
Figure 9. Font option
  1. Select Bold (or another option) from the Font Style menu in the Find Font dialog box.
Bold font style in the Find Font dialog box in Word for Mac 365
Figure 10. Bold font style
  1. Select the OK button.
OK button in the Find Font dialog box in Word for Mac 365
Figure 11. OK button

The words Font: Bold should appear under the Find what text box.

Find what format in the Find and Replace dialog box in Word for Mac
Figure 12. Find what format
  1. Insert your cursor into the Replace with text box. (Be careful not to type anything.)
Replace with text box in the Find and Replace dialog box in Word for Mac 365
Figure 13. Replace with text box
  1. Select the Format button (see figure 8).
  2. Select Font from the drop-down menu (see figure 9).
  3. Select Regular (or another option) from the Font Style menu in the Replace Font dialog box.
Regular font style in the Replace Font dialog box in Word for Mac 365
Figure 14. Regular font style
  1. Select the OK button.
OK button in the Replace Font dialog box in Word for Mac
Figure 15. OK button

The words Font: Not Bold, Not Italic should appear under the Replace with text box.

Replace with format in the Find and Replace dialog box in Word for Mac 365
Figure 16. Replace with format
  1. Select the Replace All button to make all the replacements at once. Or, select the Find Next and Replace buttons to make one replacement at a time.
Replace All, Replace, and Find Next buttons in the Find and Replace dialog box in Word for Mac 365
Figure 17. Replace All, Replace, and Find Next buttons
  1. If you selected Replace All, select OK in the dialog box telling you how many replacements were made.
OK button in the replacement dialog box in Word for Mac 365
Figure 18. OK button
  1. Select the Close button.
Close button in the Find and Replace dialog box in Word for Mac 365
Figure 19. Close button

Your font formatting should now be replaced.

How to Find and Replace Formatting Applied to Specific Text

For this example, we will find specific text formatted in red and replace that same text with green formatting. Please modify these steps according to your own needs.

  1. Select the Edit menu (see figure 1).
  2. Select Find from the drop-down menu (see figure 2).
  3. Select Advanced Find and Replace from the submenu (see figure 3).
  4. Select the Replace tab in the Find and Replace dialog box (see figure 4).
  5. Type the text you want to find into the Find what text box.
Text in the Find What text box in the Find and Replace dialog box in Word for Mac 365
Figure 20. Text in the Find what text box
  1. Select the More button (see figure 6).
  2. Select All in the Search menu (see figure 7).
  3. Select the Format button (see figure 8).
  4. Select Font from the drop-down menu (see figure 9).
  5. Select red (or other formatting) from the Font color menu in the Find Font dialog box.
Red in the Font color menu in the Find Font dialog box in Word for Mac 365
Figure 19. Find Font color menu
  1. Select the OK button (see figure 11).

The words Font color: Red should appear under the Find what text box.

Red format in the Find what text box in the Find and Replace dialog box in Word for Mac 365
Figure 20. Find what format
  1. Type the same text (or different text if desired) into the Replace with text box.
Text in the Replace with text box in the Find and Replace dialog box in Word for Mac 365
Figure 21. Text in the Replace with text box
  1. Select the Format button (see figure 6).
  2. Select Font from the drop-down menu (see figure 7).
  3. Select green (or another formatting) from the Font color menu in the Replace Font dialog box.
Green in the Font color menu in the Replace Font dialog box in Word for Mac 365
Figure 22. Replace Font color menu
  1. Select the OK button (see figure15).

The words Font color: Green should appear under the Replace with text box.

Replace with format in the Find and Replace dialog box in Word for Mac 365
Figure 23. Relace with format
  1. Select the Replace All button to make all the replacements at once. Or, use the Find Next and Replace buttons to make one replacement at a time (see figure 17).
  2. If you selected Replace All, select OK in the dialog box telling you how many replacements were made (see figure 18).
  3. Select the Close button to close the Find and Replace dialog box (see figure 19).

The font formatting for the specific text should now be replaced.

Two Tips for Finding and Replacing Font Formatting

Finding and replacing font formatting can be messy. Here are three tips to consider before your next formatting session.

Tip 1: Use the No Formatting button to clear formatting.

When you add formatting to the Find and Replace dialog box, Word will normally keep that selection in the dialog box until you close the software.

If you want to clear previously selected formatting from the Find and Replace dialog box before closing the software, place your cursor in the affected text box (Find what or Replace with) and then select the No Formatting button.

No Formatting button in the Find and Replace dialog box in Word for Mac 365
Figure 24. No Formatting button

Tip 2: Experiment with multiple replacement sequences.

Occasionally, the formatting options entered into the Replace with text box don’t replace the options in the Find what text box; instead, they are added to the options in the Find what text box. When this occurs, experiment with multiple replacement sequences to reach the formatting you need.

For example, if you put the italic format into the Find what text box and put the bold format into the Replace with text box, Word won’t replace the italic text with bold text as you might expect. Instead, it will add bold to the italic words. But you can still remove the italic format if you do a second replacement sequence, this time replacing the italic format with the Not Italic format option.

Related Resources

How to Adjust the Space between Words in Word for Mac

How to Create Custom List Numbers in Word for Mac

Updated December 16, 2022

Filed Under: Microsoft Word Tagged With: formatting, Word for Mac

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Hello! My name is Erin. I am a technical writer and editor who shares writing-related software tutorials on this website and on YouTube.

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