WD: "Find Whole Words Only" and "Match Case" Are Unavailable

ID: Q106615

The information in this article applies to:

Microsoft Word for Windows, versions 6.0, 6.0a, 6.0c
Microsoft Word for Windows NT, version 6.0
Microsoft Word for Windows 95, versions 7.0, 7.0a
Microsoft Word for the Macintosh, versions 6.0, 6.0.1, 6.0.1a
Microsoft Word 98 Macintosh Edition

SYMPTOMS

The "Find Whole Words Only" and "Match Case" options are unavailable (dimmed) when you click to select Use Wildcards (Use Pattern Matching).

CAUSE

Selecting Use Wildcards (Use Pattern Matching) actually has the effect of turning on these other options. When you type text in the Find What box and select Use Wildcards (Use Pattern Matching), Word matches the case of the typed words and finds only whole words.

WORKAROUND

You can override these implied options by using Advanced Search Criteria. For example, to search for a word that may appear in the document as "JONES", "Jones", or "jones", select the Use Wildcards (Use Pattern Matching) check box and type the following in the Find What box:

[Jj][Oo][Nn][Ee][Ss]

Including each uppercase and lowercase pair in brackets tells Word to search for either letter in that position.

For additional information, please see the following articles in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

Q106622 Can't Choose "Find Whole Words Only" with More Than One Word

Q122758 WD: How to Search for Special Characters When Pattern Matching

REFERENCES

For more information about Find and Replace, please see the appropriate reference for your version of Word.

Word 95 (7.0)

Click Answer Wizard on the Help menu. Type in "Pattern Matching", and click Search. Click to select the "Find and replace text using complex criteria" topic, and then click Display.

Word 6.0

\Click "Search for help on" on the Help menu. Type in "Pattern Matching", and click Display. Click to select the "Advanced search criteria" topic, and then click Display.

Additional query words: gray grey greyed disable disabled

Keywords : word8 macword98 winword macword word6 word7 word95
Version : MACINTOSH:6.0,6.0.1,6.0.1a,98; WINDOWS:6.0,6.0a,6.0c,7.0,7.0a; winnt:6.0
Platform : MACINTOSH WINDOWS winnt
Issue type : kbprb