Find and Replace in Google Docs (Fix Docs Faster in 2024)

Google Docs is one of the most powerful online word processors you can use, and it offers a set of handy features for you to use. One of them that makes editing large documents for common mistakes a breeze is Find and Replace. Read on to learn how to use find and replace in Google Docs for desktop and the mobile apps.

How to Find and Replace in Google Docs

You can do two things with the Find and Replace feature in Google Docs. As the name implies, you can find a specific word in the text and replace it with another word, phrase, or symbol of your choosing. Let’s take a look at answers to “How do you find and replace in Google Docs?” and ways in which you can use this powerful feature.

For this guide, we will use the text example of the classic The Hare and the Tortoise fable and fix the spelling of the word “hare” which was misspelled as “hair”.

How to Replace All Words in Google Docs on Desktop

Here is how to replace text in Google Docs on a desktop:

1. Open Google Docs on your web browser and open the document you wish to edit.

2. Click on Edit in the main top bar, which will open a dropdown menu.
3. Here, click on the Find and replace option. Clicking on it will open a small window in the middle of the screen. You can also access the Find and replace tool using the Ctrl+ H keyboard shortcut.

4. Type the word you wish to find in the Find textbox. In this case, we are going to search for “hair”. Typing the word will highlight all instances of the word in the text. You can use the Previous and Next buttons to scroll through all the instances of the word.

5. To replace the word, type the word in the Replace with textbox. In this case, we will type the word “Hare”.
6. Click on Replace to replace the currently highlighted word, or use the Replace all option to replace all instances of the word in the entire document.

Other options allow you to fine-tune the words you wish to search and replace. You can use the Match case option to make the search case-sensitive. You can also use the Ignore Latin diacritics to make sure Google ignores any diacritics so that é will be detected as a regular e.

In our linked article, you can also learn how to use find and replace in Google Sheets.

How to Replace All in Google Docs on Android

Although the Find and Replace feature is very similar on mobile and desktop, there are a lot of differences in how you can use it. Here is how to use find and replace in Google Docs on Android:

1. Open Google Docs on your Android device and open the document you wish to edit.

2. Tap on the screen to show the top bar and click on the vertical ellipsis icon towards the top right, which will open a dropdown menu.
3. Click on the Find and Replace option here. This will show a textbox towards the top of the screen. Here, type the word or phrase you wish to search for in the text. The typed word will be highlighted in the text. You can click on the left or right arrows beside the textbox to scroll through the instances in the text.

4. If you wish to replace text, click on the vertical ellipsis icon towards the top right, which will open a small dropdown menu.
5. Here, choose the Replace All or Replace with option. This will show a textbox above the keyboard.
6. The button beside the textbox will change based on the option you chose in the previous step. Click on the button to replace the words.

How to Change Every Word in Google Docs for iOS

Although the process of using the Find and Replace feature on the iOS version is very similar to the one for Android, there are a few minor changes.

Here is how to change all of one word in Google Docs for iOS:

1. Open Google Docs on your iOS device and open the document you wish to edit.
2. Tap on the screen to show the top bar, and click on the vertical ellipsis icon towards the top right part of the screen. This will open a sidebar towards the right side of the screen.
3. Click on the Find and Replace option here. This will show a textbox towards the top of the screen. Here, type the word or phrase you wish to search for in the text. The typed word will be highlighted in the text. You can click on the up and down arrows beside the textbox to scroll through the instances in the text.
4. If you wish to replace text in Docs, enter the text you wish to replace the original text with, in the textbox above the keyboard. Simply press the Replace All or Replace with button to replace the text.
5. Click on the cross button towards the top left of the screen to return to the document.

You can also learn how to easily insert a Google sheet into Google Docs in our linked article.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does Google Docs Have a Find and Replace?

Google Sheets has a handy Find and Replace function that allows you to find a specific phrase or word in the text. You can then use the replace part of this function to replace a selected or all instances of that phrase in the text. You can also configure the function only to find the words with matching cases.

How Do You Find and Replace Space in Google Docs?

To use the find and replace function in Google Docs, open the document and click on the Edit button in the main toolbar. This will open a dropdown menu. Here, click on the Find and replace option. This will open a window where you can type in the word you wish to find and the word you wish to replace it with.

What Is the Keyboard Shortcut for Find and Replace in Google Docs?

You can use the Ctrl+ H keyboard shortcut on windows to access the Find and Replace window in Google Docs instantly. If you’re using a macOS device, you can use the Command+ F shortcut to find and replace in Google Docs.

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