Using the Replace Feature
Replacing is a lot like finding; it finds the specified text. But as an extra bonus, it replaces the found text with text that you specify. For instance, if you found that you misspelled a brand name in your inventory you could replace the word with the correct spelling. Or, in our dog kennel example, you could find the dog named Sheldon and change his name to Sherman, if his new owners changed his name.
To find and replace data, follow these steps:
Select Edit, Replace or press Ctrl+H. The Replace dialog box appears (see figure 17.3).
Type the text you want to find in the Find What text box.
Type the text you want to replace it with in the Replace With text box.
Select any options you want, as you learned to do with the Find dialog box in the previous section.
There's No Match
Compared to the Find dialog box, the one thing that the Replace dialog box lacks is the Match drop-down list. The Replace feature always uses the Any Part of Field option for matching.
Click Find Next. Access finds the first occurrence of the text.
If needed, drag the title bar of the Replace dialog box to move the box so you can see the text that was found.
Click Find Next to find other occurrences if desired, and replace them by clicking the Replace button.
Replace All
If you are certain you want to replace every instance of the text in the entire table, click Replace All. It's quicker than alternating repeatedly between Find Next and Replace. Be careful, though! You may not realize all the instances that may be changed—for instance, you wouldn't want to change "will" to "would" only to find that "willfully" has been changed to "wouldfully."
When you finish replacing, click Close.