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Find and delete

In Pages I cannot figure out how to find a certain word and delete each one? I tried find and replace, but I don't want to replace the word, I want them all deleted.

Ahy suggestions?

Posted on Sep 1, 2019 12:51 PM

Reply
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Sep 1, 2019 1:31 PM

Very carefully, as Find/Replace finds text strings, not 'words'. Here are some of the results when searching for "the".

Note the marked text in the first line—the search for the has found that string in the word 'there' and if told to replace it with the content of the Replace box (nothing), will do exactly that, leaving 're' behind.


Adding a space after 'the' in the search box eliminates that find, but would not affect 'lithe'.

If using Find/Replace, put the word in the Find box, preceded or followed by a space to avoid (some of) the words containing the same string of characters.

Place nothing in the Replace box (ie. leave it empty)


Then, if there is any uncertainty regarding the presence of other words containing that string, go step by step.


Check the first Find.

If it is the word to be removed, click Replace and Find

If it is a word containing the search text, click the forward arrow > to move to the next find.

Repeat until you are back to the starting place.


Regards,

Barry


PS: Always a good idea to have a backup copy of the document. If all else fails, you can go back to that.

(Current versions of Pages automatically save copies of versions of your document at short intervals, allowing you to Revert to a previous version when things go bad.)


B.


6 replies
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Sep 1, 2019 1:31 PM in response to glasheree

Very carefully, as Find/Replace finds text strings, not 'words'. Here are some of the results when searching for "the".

Note the marked text in the first line—the search for the has found that string in the word 'there' and if told to replace it with the content of the Replace box (nothing), will do exactly that, leaving 're' behind.


Adding a space after 'the' in the search box eliminates that find, but would not affect 'lithe'.

If using Find/Replace, put the word in the Find box, preceded or followed by a space to avoid (some of) the words containing the same string of characters.

Place nothing in the Replace box (ie. leave it empty)


Then, if there is any uncertainty regarding the presence of other words containing that string, go step by step.


Check the first Find.

If it is the word to be removed, click Replace and Find

If it is a word containing the search text, click the forward arrow > to move to the next find.

Repeat until you are back to the starting place.


Regards,

Barry


PS: Always a good idea to have a backup copy of the document. If all else fails, you can go back to that.

(Current versions of Pages automatically save copies of versions of your document at short intervals, allowing you to Revert to a previous version when things go bad.)


B.


Find and delete

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