find command doesn't work

[ionsions]

If I use the "find" command to search for a word in a Word document, it doesn't work. It comes up with "Word has finished searching the document. The search item was not found." Anyone know why this happens or how I can fix it? Thanks.

 

[pbcopter]

Which version Word? It works for me with Word 2007.

I assume the thing you are searching for is in the document.

 

[Pichu]

Welcome to sevenforums! Have you made sure that the word/phrase you are searching for is actually in the document? What version of office are you using?

 

[ionsions]

Yes, I knew the word I was searching for was in the document and it still wouldn't come up. I thought it was odd, so I searched for the word "the" in a 300 page document, looking at 30 of them right on the page, and it still came up empty.

 

[karlsnooks]

ionsions,
Did I miss your answer to the question as to your Microsoft Word version?

 

[ionsions]

2007

 

[karlsnooks]

And what happens if you type Ctrl + F (hold down the Ctrl key, tap the F key, release the Ctrl key)?

Ctrl + F is the shortcut for Find

 

[Pichu]

If you click on Control+F, you should see a small window pop up that asks you with a text box you can type into labeled "find what".

Make sure that office isn't in compatibility mode, as in the file is not in docx. or etc.

Also, if the file is taken from online, it might have security placed on it. Ensure of this.

 

[cronked]

Won't work for me either...

The find command doesn't work for me either. I'm using Word 2007 with Vista Business. Whether I do CTRL-F or go through the ribbon menu, it says it cannot find what I am looking for (and I confirmed that the word did exist in the document). I did several searches for words that I know were in the document and Word 2007 could not find any of them.

So I closed Word 2007, opened up Task Manager and closed Winword.exe and then restarted Word 2007 again. I opened the same document I was just trying to search and now when I do the find command, it works like it is supposed to.

Although this temporarily fixed the problem, my issue here is this doesn't make the find command very reliable if it ceases to work once in a while.

Is there any known fix for this?

Thanks,
Bob

 

[neets7767]

I've had the same problem, and have the same concerns as you, Bob; I rely on the find function a lot. If anyone figures this out please let us know.

 

[ngwasuma]

How to find a file in the system? Windows 7 File Search