For some reason, the Find and Replace function on my Word Program (Windows 7) has stopped working. It has worked fine for 6 months or so and now when I try to do a "find and replace" in a Word document, I get an error message that says "Find and Replace (Not Responding).



Any thoughts on how I fix this problem?

Have you tried repairing Office?

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Stefan Blom
Microsoft Word MVP

Microsoft 365 apps for business
Windows 11 Professional

First of all Expand find options via the More button.
Now look for any Checked options in Search Options, such as “Mach case”, “Find whole words only” in find dialog box? If you have found marked checked options then it will affect your search result.

Un-check all the check-marks from the dialog box and try again to Find and Replace option.

James: Playing around the F/R options would fix a 'Not responding' state, as reported by the OP; all they'll do is affect whether Word finds whatever you're after.

Of course, on a very large document it might take a few moments for Word to return to a ready state after a F/R. Assuming that's not the case, or at least that the problem isn't limited to such documents, a repair (via Programs & Features > Microsoft Office > Change in the Windows Control Panel) is a good place to start.

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Cheers,
Paul Edstein
[Fmr MS MVP - Word]