Changing color font between 2 specific flags

RupertM · #1 05-23-2014, 10:32 AM

Hi everyone,

Just as a brief introduction, I'm comfortable using VBA on Excel and doing all sorts of interesting stuff, but I never used VBA on Word. I am currently struggling with the following situation:

what I'd like to, is to build a macro that will change color (and size) for the text between 2 specific flags.

For example, if my text is:
Et quoniam mirari posse quosdam peregrinos existimo haec lecturos forsitan, si contigerit, quamobrem cum oratio ad ea monstranda deflexerit quae Romae gererentur.
/Ex: nihil praeter seditiones narratur et tabernas et vilitates harum similis alias, summatim causas perstringam nusquam a veritate sponte propria digressurus./Ex

I want Word to see the flag "/Ex:" and to apply a specific change in color and size to all the text between "/Ex:" and the second flag "/Ex". (And that for the whole document of course.)

I've no idea where to start with. I browsed the net but only found topics that use a find/replace function which is not applicable in my case I think.
I also thought about a macro built like a loop, selecting each word and checking if it's a flag or not, but first, I don't really know how to compute it, and second I don't think this is a very optimized solution.

I will appreciate any kind of help!
Thanks

macropod · #2 05-23-2014, 03:26 PM

You don't actually need a macro for what you've described; it could also be done with a wildcard Find/Replace, where:
Find = /Ex:*/Ex
Replace = "^&"
and you specify the replacement font colour. A macro equivalent is:

Code:

Sub Demo()
Application.ScreenUpdating = False
With ActiveDocument.Range.Find
    .ClearFormatting
    .Replacement.ClearFormatting
    .Replacement.Font.ColorIndex = wdRed
    .Text = "/Ex:*/Ex"
    .Replacement.Text = "^&"
    .Format = True
    .Forward = True
    .Wrap = wdFindContinue
    .MatchWildcards = True
    .Execute Replace:=wdReplaceAll
End With
Application.ScreenUpdating = True
End Sub

RupertM · #3 05-24-2014, 01:43 AM

Thanks for the answer macropod, I didn't know that function.
Your macro works fine, but surprisingly when I try doing it manually, it doesn't find anything.
Do you think it is linked to the language of my Office?
BTW what does ^& stand for?

Thanks in advance,

macropod · #4 05-24-2014, 01:46 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by RupertM

Your macro works fine, but surprisingly when I try doing it manually, it doesn't find anything.

Did you check the 'use wildcards' option?

Quote:

BTW what does ^& stand for?

That's a standard replace expression telling Word to use the found text for the replacement (i.e. don't change the text).

RupertM · #5 05-24-2014, 04:47 AM

Ok my mistake, I didn't know what you were referring to by "wildcards". It's very clear now and works!

Thank you very much for your help macropod!

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