PowerPoint can contain hundreds or thousands of words in a single slide deck. This is especially true when working on the initial draft of a presentation created from a lengthy report or editing PowerPoint templates or Google Slides templates. You might want to reduce the amount of text in your slides by finding and removing information you don’t need.
How to Search Words in PowerPoint for Desktop and Web
The Home tab contains both the Find and Replace buttons that can be used to find and replace text in PowerPoint. If you’re using PowerPoint for Windows, you can use the CTRL+F hotkey to find text or Command+F for Mac.
PowerPoint also enables searching text by base, diacritics, or other parameters for different languages when searching for text.
Below is an example of how to search text in PowerPoint.
How to Find and Replace Text in PowerPoint
To replace text, go to the Home tab and click Replace; use CTRL+H for Windows or SHIFT+Command+H for Mac. The Replace function in PowerPoint not only enables replacing text but also fonts.
Enter text to find (Find what), followed by text to replace (Replace with). Click Replace to replace a single instance of the text or Replace All to replace all instances of the specified text.
Search Text using PowerPoint for Mobile
The mobile versions of PowerPoint (Android and iOS) also contain the option to find text via the Home tab. However, a quicker way to search for text is simply using the Search button at the top.
FAQs
Yes, both the desktop and web versions of PowerPoint allow you to search for text using the Find function located in the Home tab or with the CTRL+F (Windows) or Command+F (Mac) shortcut.
To replace text in PowerPoint, go to Home -> Replace, or use CTRL+H (Windows) or SHIFT+Command+H (Mac). Enter the text you want to replace and the new text you want to use, then click Replace for a single instance or Replace All for all instances.
The Replace All option replaces every instance of the specified text throughout the entire presentation, making it a fast way to update repeated words or phrases across multiple slides.
Yes, PowerPoint’s Replace function allows you to replace both the text and its associated fonts, enabling you to make style changes as well as content updates.
On PowerPoint for mobile (Android or iOS), you can find text by accessing the Home tab or using the Search button at the top of the screen. Simply type the text you want to locate, and PowerPoint will highlight it within your presentation.
No, PowerPoint can only search and replace text that exists within text boxes or placeholders. It cannot detect or search for text embedded in images or videos.
To quickly find text on a Mac, you can use the shortcut Command+F, which opens the Find dialog box to enter your search term.
Final Words
All versions of PowerPoint, be it for the web, desktop, or mobile, have the option to find text. However, you can’t find a text from within images or videos, as PowerPoint can only find and replace PPT text that is present in placeholders.
