How to Find a Specific Word in Google Docs (Computer and Mobile)

Looking for a name, a term, or a typo in a long Google Doc? Instead of scrolling and scanning, use Find. Google Docs highlights every match, tells you how many there are, and lets you jump between them, and its Find and replace tool can change them all at once. This guide covers finding words on a computer and on your phone, plus advanced options like matching case and regular expressions.

Quick Answer

Press Ctrl + F (Command + F on a Mac) and type the word. Docs highlights every match and shows a count like 1 of 3. Press Enter or use the up and down arrows to move between matches. For more options, press Ctrl + H to open Find and replace.

Find a Word on a Computer

1. Open the document in Google Docs.
2. Press Ctrl + F (Windows, ChromeOS) or Command + F (Mac). A search box appears in the top-right corner.
3. Type the word or phrase. Matches are highlighted in yellow, and the current one is darker.
4. Press Enter or click the down arrow for the next match, and Shift + Enter or the up arrow for the previous one.
5. Press Esc to close the box.

Pressing Ctrl + F twice opens your browser’s own find bar instead, which also works but doesn’t search parts of long documents that haven’t loaded. Use the Docs box for best results.

Find and Replace (Advanced Options)

1. Press Ctrl + H (Command + Shift + H on Mac), or go to Edit > Find and replace, or click the three dots in the find box.
2. Type the word in Find.
3. Optionally type a new word in Replace with, then click Replace (one at a time) or Replace all.

Options in this dialog:

• Match case: Finds “Apple” but not “apple.”
• Use regular expressions: Advanced patterns, such as \bshift\b to match the whole word “shift” but not “shifting,” or \d{3} to find three-digit numbers.
• Ignore Latin diacritics: Treats accented and unaccented letters as the same, so searching “cafe” also finds “café.”

Search in a Document With Tabs

In documents with multiple tabs, the find box may search only the current tab. Use Find and replace and look for the option to search all tabs, or switch tabs and search again.

Find a Word on iPhone, iPad, or Android

1. Open the document in the Google Docs app.
2. Tap the three dots in the top-right corner.
3. Tap Find and replace.
4. Type your word and tap Search. Use the arrows to move between matches, or tap the three dots to replace.

Other Ways to Search

• Search across all your documents: In Google Drive, type the word in the Drive search bar. Drive searches inside Docs, PDFs, and more.
• Word definitions: Right-click a word and choose Define (or press Ctrl + Shift + Y).
• Headings: Use the document outline (View > Show outline) to jump to sections.

Related: adding Grammarly to Google Docs.

Troubleshooting

• No matches, but the word is there: Check spelling, remove extra spaces, and turn off Match case. Text inside images can’t be searched.
• Replace is unavailable: You have view-only or comment access. Ask for edit access or make a copy.
• Matches in comments or suggestions: Find searches document text, not comments.

Summary

1. Press Ctrl + F (Command + F) and type the word.
2. Press Enter or use the arrows to move between matches.
3. Use Ctrl + H for Find and replace, Match case, and regular expressions.
4. On mobile, tap three dots > Find and replace.