macro for performing more than one find and replace procedure at the same time

I realise this is a very old thread, but I needed a multiple find and replace (F&R) macro that dealt with 100+ wildcard F&R routines. This macro appears to work very well, but perhaps too well in my case. In case it matters, I'm using Word 2010.

I created a doc with a single 2-column table with 'find' routines in the left column and 'replace' routines in the right. I used the wildcard syntax as I run all these as wildcard F&R routines. For example, I had a routine to search for a number followed by a space followed by a month name--in wildcard speak that's something like ([0-9])( )(May). I wanted to replace it with the same text except for the space, which I wanted as a non-breaking space; i.e. \1^s\3. 

I changed three lines in the macro -- the one that pointed to my Word doc containing the table, the 'MatchWholeWord' to False, and the 'MatchWildcards' to True. I changed nothing else.

I added this slightly revised macro to a macros.dotm doc I store in my Word>STARTUP folder. And then I opened a large doc and ran the macro on it. After several minutes, it was finished. However, everything that was searched for was replaced by the ACTUAL text in the 'replace' column, and Word didn't consider it as wildcard syntax.

The macro correctly searched for all instances in the first column, using the wildcard syntax. But the text it replaced it with ignored the wildcard setting and went in as \1^s\3. So instead of 9 May being replaced with 9<non-breaking space>May, it got replaced with \1^s\3.

I also tried putting parentheses around the elements in the replace syntax--i.e. ( \1)(^s)(\3)--but again, it just went in as that text, and not as I would've expected had I done a Ctrl+H F&R routine with wildcards checked.

Can anyone help? What line(s) do I need to add/change/delete in the macro for it to read the contents of the 'replace' column as wildcard syntax, and not as text?

Thanks!

--Rhonda

It will be easier to help you if you show us the code of the macro that you are using.

Hi Doug

Here is the code:

Sub ReplaceFromTableList()

Dim oChanges As Document, oDoc As Document

Dim oTable As Table

Dim oRng As Range

Dim rFindText As Range, rReplacement As Range

Dim i As Long

Dim sFname As String

'Change the path in the line below to reflect the name and path of the table document

sFname = "C:\Users\rhonda\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Word\STARTUP\find_and_replace_routines_macro.docx"

Set oDoc = ActiveDocument

Set oChanges = Documents.Open(FileName:=sFname, Visible:=False)

Set oTable = oChanges.Tables(1)

For i = 1 To oTable.Rows.Count

    Set oRng = oDoc.Range

    Set rFindText = oTable.Cell(i, 1).Range

    rFindText.End = rFindText.End - 1

    Set rReplacement = oTable.Cell(i, 2).Range

    rReplacement.End = rReplacement.End - 1

    With oRng.Find

            .ClearFormatting

            .Replacement.ClearFormatting

            Do While .Execute(findText:=rFindText, _

                MatchWildcards:=True, _

                Forward:=True, _

                Wrap:=wdFindContinue) = True

                oRng.Text = rReplacement

            Loop

    End With

Next i

oChanges.Close wdDoNotSaveChanges

End Sub

Your code is just replacing the found text with the text contained in the replacement range.

Using the following should make the replacement properly

Sub ReplaceFromTableList()

 Dim oChanges As Document, oDoc As Document

 Dim oTable As Table

 Dim oRng As Range

 Dim rFindText As Range, rReplacement As Range

 Dim i As Long

 Dim sFname As String

 'Change the path in the line below to reflect the name and path of the table document

 sFname = "C:\Users\rhonda\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Word\STARTUP\find_and_replace_routines_macro.docx"

 Set oDoc = ActiveDocument

 Set oChanges = Documents.Open(FileName:=sFname, Visible:=False)

 Set oTable = oChanges.Tables(1)

 For i = 1 To oTable.Rows.Count

     Set oRng = oDoc.Range

     Set rFindText = oTable.Cell(i, 1).Range

     rFindText.End = rFindText.End - 1

     Set rReplacement = oTable.Cell(i, 2).Range

     rReplacement.End = rReplacement.End - 1

     With oRng.Find

             .ClearFormatting

             .Replacement.ClearFormatting

             Do While .Execute(findText:=rFindText, _

                 MatchWildcards:=True, _

                 Forward:=True, _

                 Wrap:=wdFindContinue, Replacewith:=rReplacement) = True

             Loop

     End With

 Next i

 oChanges.Close wdDoNotSaveChanges