Novice question on NWE find and replace

Candace · Post by **Candace** » 2006-07-20 15:09:22

Hi all,
I am trying to change all occurrences of a phrase made up of a recurring word , then a variable word (e.g. "People v. Chapin" and "People v. Hale" and "People v. Nisus") to italics.
In Classic I would just do a find and replace with wild card and have the replace be in italics.
I tried that in NWE but it didn't take, so I am assuming that perhaps the find and replace feature doesn't recognize styles like italics?
Anyway, is there some other way for me to effectuate this change?
And if I can't do it because of the wild card, is there at least a way to italicize all occurrencees of a singe word, such as "Id." or "Ibid."?
Thanks. Candace

Post by **martin** » 2006-07-20 16:31:16

Hi Candace, you are correct that the Find & Replace does not handle attributed/formatted text. However, you can still accomplish the task you laid out for us. Basically you will want to do a Find All for a special search pattern and then simply use the normal formatting tools at your disposal.

The specifics:
1. Open the Find panel.
2. Switch to PowerFind mode (change the popup menu labeled Using).
3. Enter the constant text that you are searching for, eg: "People v. "
4. Insert the variable that will match any word. To do that click the cog wheel that is next to the Find What field. Choose the menu Wild Card > Any Word.
5. Click the Find All button. All the matching text should be selected in your document.
6. Now simply format the text as you wish, eg: choose the menu Format > Italic

Candace · Post by **Candace** » 2006-07-20 17:00:48

Yes, yes, yes, yes!!! It worked! I am heartened!

Thanks for your quick response and such clear, step by step instructions. They really helped.

Now, I am going to search the forum for an end run around the non-existence of an indexing and TOC feature.

And if I can just get a grip on setting Styles, I'll be on my way.

Cheers, Candace