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Bird_FAT · 04-22-2009, 11:53 PM

I would say the quickest, and probably most accurate, way would be to run through the document and add your [**] symbols yourself, then just Find and Replace the paragraph markers. - I know that this isn't the ideal solution, but having done the same thing that you are aiming to do, and having done it a million and one times, I just found it the most accurate!

It IS possible to write some VBA code to do what you want - BUT, it WON'T be anywhere near as accurate. For example, you asked about sorting it by paragraph - the problem is, your document has a paragraph marker at the end of every line, oops!

How about adapting your search string and turning it into a VBA code string:

Code:

Sub Find_and_Replace_Loop()

' Code String Written by Bird - 2009
' This macro will find and replace
' a) all full stops, question marks and exclamation marks followed by double paragraph markers
' b) 2 paragraph markers together - this is repeated in case there are 3 or four together
' c) all single paragraph markers, into spaces
' d) finally putting paragraph markers back.


    Selection.Find.ClearFormatting
    With Selection.Find
        .Text = ".^p^p"
        .Replacement.Text = ".**"
        .Forward = True
        .Wrap = wdFindContinue
        .Format = False
        .MatchCase = False
        .MatchWholeWord = False
        .MatchWildcards = False
        .MatchSoundsLike = False
        .MatchAllWordForms = False
    End With
    With Selection.Find
        .Text = "?^p^p"
        .Replacement.Text = "?**"
        .Forward = True
        .Wrap = wdFindContinue
        .Format = False
        .MatchCase = False
        .MatchWholeWord = False
        .MatchWildcards = False
        .MatchSoundsLike = False
        .MatchAllWordForms = False
    End With
    With Selection.Find
        .Text = "!^p^p"
        .Replacement.Text = "!**"
        .Forward = True
        .Wrap = wdFindContinue
        .Format = False
        .MatchCase = False
        .MatchWholeWord = False
        .MatchWildcards = False
        .MatchSoundsLike = False
        .MatchAllWordForms = False
    End With
    With Selection.Find
        .Text = "^p^p"
        .Replacement.Text = "^p"
        .Forward = True
        .Wrap = wdFindContinue
        .Format = False
        .MatchCase = False
        .MatchWholeWord = False
        .MatchWildcards = False
        .MatchSoundsLike = False
        .MatchAllWordForms = False
    End With
    With Selection.Find
        .Text = "^p^p"
        .Replacement.Text = "^p"
        .Forward = True
        .Wrap = wdFindContinue
        .Format = False
        .MatchCase = False
        .MatchWholeWord = False
        .MatchWildcards = False
        .MatchSoundsLike = False
        .MatchAllWordForms = False
    End With
    With Selection.Find
        .Text = "^p^p"
        .Replacement.Text = "^p"
        .Forward = True
        .Wrap = wdFindContinue
        .Format = False
        .MatchCase = False
        .MatchWholeWord = False
        .MatchWildcards = False
        .MatchSoundsLike = False
        .MatchAllWordForms = False
    End With
    With Selection.Find
        .Text = "^p"
        .Replacement.Text = " "
        .Forward = True
        .Wrap = wdFindContinue
        .Format = False
        .MatchCase = False
        .MatchWholeWord = False
        .MatchWildcards = False
        .MatchSoundsLike = False
        .MatchAllWordForms = False
    End With
    With Selection.Find
        .Text = "**"
        .Replacement.Text = "^p"
        .Forward = True
        .Wrap = wdFindContinue
        .Format = False
        .MatchCase = False
        .MatchWholeWord = False
        .MatchWildcards = False
        .MatchSoundsLike = False
        .MatchAllWordForms = False
    End With
        Loop
End Sub

This is just an example of what you can do. I have expanded the double paragraph marker string to start with [. ! ?] as these would be the markers at the end of a complete sentence in a paragraph.

Have a go at it and see if you can adapt it to your needs.

To add the VBA code:

Open Word
Use Alt+F11 to open your VBA window
In the Left hand 'tree' window look for Normal and open the Modules
If there is no Module, use the Insert menu to add one
Once you have a Module, double-click it to open
Copy and Paste the above code

By putting this in Normal you are able to use this macro in any document.
To run it - (2003) Tools > Macro > Macros (or Alt+F8)
(2007) View > Macros > View Macros (or Alt+F8)

Have fun with the code - play around with it to suit your needs.