CTRL + F Not Working the Way You Want??

By Carol Bratt / 05/28/2013 / 5 Comments / Microsoft Word, Word 2007, Word 2010

Yes? Yes! When you click that key combination it no longer opens up the Find & Replace dialog box. What happens since version 2010 is that a pane will appear on the left-hand side of your screen that will allow you to search.

Personally, I feel as it I have been cheated. All this nice new software and the good folks at Microsoft seem to have gone backwards on this part! You can click on CTRL + H | Find but it would be so much nicer to have it as it once was – simple and efficient. You can make it happen!

Follow the steps below to learn how:

Click on the File tab of your Ribbon.
Click Options to display the Word options dialog box.
On the left-hand side of your dialog box, click Customize Ribbon.
On the lower left-hand corner of your dialog box, click Customize. The dialog box will display.
Click on the Home tab of the Categories list.
In the Commands list, click once on EditFind to select it.
Be certain your cursor is in the Press New Shortcut Key box.
Click CTRL + F. Just under the Current Keys box, Word will inform you that this shortcut key is current assigned to the NavPaneSearch command.
Click the Assign button.
Click Close to close the Customize Keyboard dialog box.
Click OK to close the word Options dialog box.

Now then, when you click CTRL + F, you will see the familiar ‘Find’ tab of the ‘Find and Replace’ dialog box that you were used to.

About The Author

Carol Bratt

Carol holds A+, MCP, and MOS computer certifications and is the resident DCT Office expert. She trains the staffs of small law firms in the use of Microsoft Office applications and has authored many books covering Microsoft Office as well as written articles for Infopackets, TechnoLawyer, and Digital Harbor. For more Microsoft Office tips visit Carol's Corner Office or follow Carol on FaceBook and Twitter.

5 thoughts on “CTRL + F Not Working the Way You Want??”

RandiO
06/01/2013 at 9:07 pm

You are more persistent than I am, Carol Bratt,
I was just putting up with this new behavior in Word2010.
I will not even bother asking you how much time it took for you to figure this out! 😉
At least Microsoft did not decide to change my favorite F4 (Repeat Last Command) keyboard shortcut!
Thank you,
RandiO
dan
08/01/2013 at 2:05 pm

In EXCEL, is it possible to change the default FIND option from WITHIN SHEET to WITHIN WORKBOOK ? This would be convenient for me since I typically want to always find a string within the entire workbook rather than an individual sheet, and I’m weary of having to make this change each time I open a spreadsheet..
Thanks,
Dan
José Carlos G. Ribeiro
08/02/2013 at 8:59 pm

@Dan: Yes, but I do not know to without expert help.
Try ASAP Utilities. It has MANY useful features that you’ll love: http://www.asap-utilities.com/
Prabhu
05/14/2014 at 4:50 am

worked. thanks:-)
Poornima
12/16/2014 at 12:10 pm

Thanks Mam, its really helpful.

Comments are closed.