In MS Word change formatting for all paragraphs that share a specific format

Question

I'm writing a document with lots of different things in it. I put 4pt spacing on the first paragraph of each new topic after the topic heading. I want to change the formatting for all those paragraphs that have the 4pt spacing at once instead of changing each one separately.

I know there are options in "find & replace" to select certain types of formatting but I can't seem to find a way to search for paragraphs with a specific amount of spacing before (e.g. 4pt).

Answer 1

Styles vs. Find and Replace

I have provided two solutions. Using MS Word's "find and replace" functionality may be the best option for this document but in the future, you may wish to use MS Word's "styles" to maintain consistency and to update formatting for the same element across a document.

Solution 1:   Find & Replace

1. Change paragraph spacing after from 8 → 40pt
   
    
2. Open "Find and Replace" dialog ALT+H then Z N R
   Click "More" button if "Search Options" is not displayed
   
   
   
    
3. With insertion point in the "Find what:" text entry field, select "Format" then "paragraph" and enter 8 pt in the spacing after field, then click "OK"
   
   
   
    
4. With insertion point in the "Replace with:" text entry field, select "Format" then "paragraph" and enter 40 pt in the spacing after field, then click "OK"
   
   
   
    
5. Click "Replace" or "Replace All" or "Find Next" to apply the change
   
   
   
    
    
   

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Solution 2:   MS Word Styles

Word styles provide a way to change formatting easily for all elements that share the same style. Instead of manually formatting the text elements in a document, use styles to maintain consistency. There is a style associated with every document element (titles, headings, bullets, etc.). Styles can be modified and you add new styles with your own custom name. When you modify or create styles, you decide if the changes apply to the current document only, or if you would like Word to make the changes available to you in future documents.

For example, to change the normal paragraph spacing across a document, you can either

1. modify the existing Normal style directly, or
2. update the existing Normal style to match a paragraph in your document

Updating Style to Match a Paragraph

1. Paragraphs were based on the Normal style
   
    
2. Select paragraph formatting for an existing paragraph
   
   
   
    
3. Modify After spacing 8 → 40pt
   
   
   
    
4. Click the Styles button, right-click Normal, the select "Update Normal to Match selection"
   
   
   

Resources

• Customize or create new styles in Word
• Apply a style to text in Word