How to Search for a Word in Google Docs?

Google Docs provides a variety of features to facilitate its users. These features include inserting a table, setting background images, increasing the font size, setting margins, and much more. Searching for a word within the opened document is also a fantastic feature. It can assist you in searching for a specific word in long documents easily and quickly. 

This article demonstrates various methods to search for a word in an entire document:

So, let’s start!

Note: An existing document is considered to search for a word.

Method 1: Using CTRL+F to Search for a Word in Google Docs

There can be a situation where it is required to search for a particular word in a lengthy Google document. Performing the specified operation manually can take much time and effort. In such a situation, users can utilize the “Ctrl+F” shortcut key for searching a specific word/character as per requirements.

To do so, press “Ctrl+F” on your keyboard. As a result, a search box will appear on the top right of your document:

Type the word you want to search in the document, and Google Docs will highlight that text in the entire document. For instance, we have searched for the word “Essays” in the opened document. Upon doing so, Google Docs highlighted, or color-marked all of its occurrences:

Till this point, you have learned about searching a word in Google Docs. What if it is needed to replace the searched word as well? Check out the below-given method to get the answer!

Method 2: Using “Find and Replace” to Search a Word in Google Docs

Finding and replacing a particular word in a long document could be a challenge for anyone. Google Docs overcomes this challenge by providing the “Find and Replace” feature. To use it, follow the steps below.

Firstly, click on the “Edit” tab of the Menu bar and select the “Find and Replace” option from the drop-down menu. Moreover, you can also press the “CTRL+H” shortcut key to perform the same operation:

Another method is to press the shortcut key “Ctrl+F” to open the Find box. Then, click on the highlighted vertical dots icon from the right side:

The following dialogue box will now appear on the screen:

In the “Find” section, type the word you want to search in the document (by checking the “Match case” box, the search will be case sensitive):

In the “Replace with” text field, write out the word that needs to be replaced with the searched word:

Now, you have two options. Either replace a particular occurrence of the searched word using the highlighted “Replace” option or click on “Replace all” to replace all occurrences at once:

It can be seen from the below-given image that we have successfully replaced “Essay” with the word “Paragraph”:

That’s it! It is all about this guide.

Conclusion

To search for a word in Google Docs, press the “CTRL+F” shortcut key and type the required word in the search box. However, if you want to find and replace the searched word, open the “Find and Replace” box using the Edit tab or press “CTRL+H”. This article has demonstrated the method for searching a word in Google Docs.