How do I find and replace bullet symbols (not style)?

[Guest]

When converting documents from WordPerfect to MSWord, bullet characters are
carried over. These characters are not associated with a bullet style and I
need to delete them. These bullet characters seem to be symbols, but I can't
find and replace them. I have tried using the ^nnn and ^0nnn and ^unnn seach
codes, but I am having no luck.

 

[Guest]

Have you tried copying the bullet symbol and pasting it into the Find what:
field in Find and Replace?

 

[Guest]

Yes. In fact, when I highlight, copy and paste, the paste result actually
appears as two seperate bullets in the FIND field. If I highlight the bullet,
then open the FIND dialogue, it appears in the field as "(" open parentheses.

 

[Guest]

What happens, after pasting the symbol in the Find what: box, if you click on
Find Next? Does it take you to the next identical symbol? I've noticed when
I paste symbols from a WordPerfect font into the Find what: box, that they
don't always replicate what is on screen. But I can Find next and Replace
all.

Also, have you tried after pasting the symbol into the Find what: box to
replace it with something? If so, what happens?

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

If the bulleted paragraphs have a hanging indent, you could use
column-select (Alt+drag) to select the bullets and delete.

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA

Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the newsgroup so
all may benefit.

 

[Guest]

If I click Find Next, it simply reports back it was not found.
The symbol appears as a simple bullet in the Word document, including when I
print it. However, when I copy and paste the symbol into the search field, it
appears as a double bullet seperated by space, like this:
• •
If I try to delete the bullet manually, pressing the delete key once selects
the bullet, and pressing the delete key twice will then delete it. It
wouldn't seem to be a big deal, but I have over 2000 documents, with several
hundred bullets in each. The delete-delete method is killing me.

 

[Guest]

Wicked cool! I didn't know I could do that. Its not really a solution for
deleting my thousands of bullets, but it is a neat little trick I didn't know
before. Thank you.

I still would really benefit from knowing how to search out and destroy
these little beggers with the Find Replace option.

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

If you can actually select the bullets (as opposed to selecting the entire
column of bullets when you click on one in recent versions of Word), then
you can use Alt+X to get the Unicode character code (Word 2002 and 2003).
You can then search for ^Unnnn or ^unnnn (supposedly; I'm having difficulty
making either of these work).

Aha, it turns out that you have to enter the *decimal* value of the Unicode
character, which Word's Symbol dialog provides only as hex. <sigh> And
although Word's help quotes ^Unnnn, the capital U generates an error
message. Luckily, you can use the Windows calculator to convert hex values
to decimal.

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA

Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the newsgroup so
all may benefit.

 

[Guest]

Suzanne,
Thanks for working with me on this. Although your reply is not the solution,
I have another clue. When I selected one of the bullets and typed Alt+X,
nothing happened. So I tried inserting a new symbol and using Alt+X just to
verify I was using the Alt+X correctly. I was. So that would indicate that
the bullet I am trying to find is not a symbol. So the question becomes, what
is that little bullet? Is there anyway I can send you an example?
By the way, I have learned a lot (albeit not a solution to my concern) from
your replies. thank you

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

Yes, please send a sample. But one last grasp at a straw. Is this bullet by
chance square and in the margin? If so, see
http://word.mvps.org/FAQs/Formatting/NonPrintChars.htm

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA

Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the newsgroup so
all may benefit.

 

[Tony Jollans]

If the character appears as a "(" in the Find Dialog when selected, it is a
character from a Symbol Font and you may find this helpful:
http://word.mvps.org/FAQs/MacrosVBA/FindReplaceSymbols.htm

 

[Guest]

Ah Ha! I think we're on the right trail. Thank you. In the process, I even
learned what those squares in the margin are indicating. However, I am almost
certain the bullets I am searching for are symbols as Tony has suggested. I
went to the FindReplaceSymbols.htm link provided and built the macro to
display the font and unicode number. But the step in the article that says,
"Press Ctrl+G or select View + Immediate Window to see the results." has me
baffled.

 

[Tony Jollans]

The macro produces its results in what's called the "Immediate Window" in
the VB Editor. To see this window (if it's not already displayed) press
Ctrl+G or select View > Immediate Window from the Mneu in the VBE.

 

[Guest]

That's it! Problem no more, solution found. Thank you Tony, Suzanne and SVC.
I not only found an answer to my bullet problem, but learned much in the
process.

 

[Tony Jollans]

Glad you're sorted - and especially glad you're learning. Happy to have
helped!