How to find and replace text in Notepad on Windows 11

To find and replace text in Notepad on Windows 11, press Ctrl + H, type the word to find and its replacement, then select Replace all to change every match at once.

Ctrl + F finds text without changing it, and the match case and wrap-around options control what counts as a match. For many files at once, PowerShell does the same job from the command line.

Notepad find and replace shortcut

Ctrl + H is the Windows shortcut for find and replace, and it opens Notepad's replace controls straight away.

1. Open Start, type Notepad and open the app, then open your text file.
2. Press Ctrl + H.
3. Type the text you want to change in the find box.
4. Type the new text in the replace box.
5. Select Replace all to change every match in the document.
6. Save the file to keep the changes.

An asterisk (*) before the file name in the title bar shows that the document has unsaved changes.

How to find text in Notepad

Find moves the cursor to each match and highlights it, without changing anything in the file.

1. Open the file in Notepad.
2. Optional: select a word or phrase first, so Notepad fills it into the search box for you.
3. Press Ctrl + F to open find.
4. Type the text you are looking for, if it is not already filled in.
5. Select Find next to jump to the next match, and repeat to move through the document.
6. Close the find box when you are done.

Notepad remembers the last text you searched for and the state of its option check boxes, so the next search starts where the last one left off.

How to replace text in Notepad

Replace works one match at a time, so you can check each change, or on every match at once with Replace all.

1. Press Ctrl + H in the open Notepad document.
2. Type the text to find in the first box.
3. Type the replacement text in the second box. Leave it empty to delete every match instead.
4. Turn on Match case if capital letters matter, such as replacing Log but not log.
5. Select Find next to move to the first match.
6. Select Replace to change that match and move on, or Replace all to change every match in the document.
7. Save the file, or press Ctrl + Shift + S to save the result as a new file.

Notepad on Windows 11 handles replacements in very large files faster since version 11.2205, so a Replace all on a long log file no longer stalls the app.

Notepad match case and wrap around options

Two check boxes decide which text Notepad treats as a match and where the search stops.

Option	When it is on	When it is off
Match case	Only text with the same capital and small letters matches: Notepad does not match notepad	The search ignores case, so Notepad, notepad and NOTEPAD all match
Wrap around	After the last match, the search jumps back to the start of the document and keeps going	The search stops at the end of the document and shows a Beginning/end of document reached notice
Selected text	Text you select before pressing Ctrl + F or Ctrl + H fills the search box	The box shows the last text you searched for

Leave Wrap around on for Replace all style work, and turn Match case on whenever the word you are replacing is a name, a code variable or an acronym.

Find and replace in text file with PowerShell

Notepad replaces text in the document you have open. To change a file without opening it, or to script the change, use Windows PowerShell's -replace operator.

Open Start, type PowerShell, open it, and change to the folder that holds the file. This example replaces every Warning with Caution in Notice.txt:

(Get-Content -Path .\Notice.txt -Encoding UTF8) | ForEach-Object {$_ -replace 'Warning', 'Caution'} | Set-Content -Path .\Notice.txt -Encoding UTF8

The parentheses make Get-Content read the whole file before Set-Content writes to it. -replace changes every match on every line, and -Encoding UTF8 on both cmdlets reads and writes UTF-8, the default Notepad encoding for new files. Without it, Windows PowerShell 5.1 writes the system's ANSI code page and can damage accented characters.

You should see: PowerShell returns to the prompt with no message. Run Get-Content -Path .\Notice.txt to see the replaced text.

-replace is case-insensitive and reads the find text as a regular expression. Use -creplace for a case-sensitive replacement, and put a backslash before characters such as . or ( to match them literally, for example '\.txt'.

How to check Notepad replaced every match

1. Press Ctrl + F and type the old text you replaced.
2. Select Find next. In current Notepad versions an inline tip appears when there are no matches left.
3. Search for the new text and step through a few matches to confirm the wording and capitals are right.
4. Check the title bar: the asterisk before the file name means the changes are not saved yet.

How to undo Replace all in Notepad

The Windows 11 Notepad supports multi-level undo, so a wrong replacement can be rolled back as long as the file is still open.

1. Do not close the tab or the Notepad window.
2. Press Ctrl + Z to undo the last change.
3. Press Ctrl + Z again to step further back if more than one edit needs undoing.
4. Press Ctrl + Y to redo a change you undid by mistake.
5. Save the file once the text looks right.

For a risky Replace all, press Ctrl + Shift + S first and save a copy under a new name, so the original file stays untouched.

New features in Notepad in Windows 11

Notepad on Windows 11 is a Microsoft Store app that updates on its own schedule. These changes affect searching and replacing text:

Change	Notepad version	What it means for find and replace
Redesigned find and replace	Windows 11 Notepad redesign (2021)	Find and replace match the Windows 11 look, alongside dark mode
Multi-level undo	Windows 11 Notepad redesign (2021)	Several Ctrl + Z presses can roll back a Replace all and later edits
Faster replace in large files	11.2205 and later	Replacing large amounts of text no longer slows the app
Tabs	11.2212.33.0 and later	Several files stay open in one Notepad window
Inline tip for no results	11.2605.29.0 and later	An inline tip replaces the pop-up when nothing matches
End-of-document notice	11.2605.29.0 and later	Beginning/end of document reached shows when wrap-around is off

The full list of Notepad changes also covers spellcheck, formatting and the AI writing tools.

Notepad tips and tricks for Windows users

Tip	How
Search for a word without typing it	Select the word, then press Ctrl + F; Notepad fills the search box
Find text in a long file faster	Zoom out with Ctrl + Minus, back in with Ctrl + Plus, and reset with Ctrl + 0
See where a match sits	The status bar shows the line and column number of the cursor, even with word wrap on
Delete a wrong word after a replacement	Press Ctrl + Backspace to delete the previous word
Keep the original before a big change	Press Ctrl + Shift + S to save a copy under a new name first
Work on a second file side by side	Press Ctrl + Shift + N to open a new Notepad window
Spot unsaved replacements	Look for the asterisk (*) before the file name in the title bar

For heavier editing across many files, some people replace Notepad with Notepad++ as the default text editor.

Notepad find and replace not working

"Beginning/end of document reached" and no more matches

Wrap around is off, so the search stopped at the end of the document instead of starting again from the top.

1. Open find with Ctrl + F.
2. Turn on Wrap around.
3. Select Find next again; the search continues from the start of the document.

Find says nothing matches, but the text is in the file

Match case is on and the capitals differ, or the search box has extra spaces.

1. Turn off Match case and search again.
2. Clear the search box and retype the word, with no space before or after it.
3. Select the word in the document and press Ctrl + F, so Notepad copies the exact text into the box.

Replace all changed more text than intended

The find text is part of longer words, such as cat inside category, or Match case was off.

1. Press Ctrl + Z straight away to undo the replacement.
2. Add a space or punctuation around the find text, or turn on Match case.
3. Use Find next and Replace to change matches one at a time.

PowerShell replaced nothing or the wrong text

-replace reads the find text as a regular expression, so characters such as . ( and $ have special meaning.

1. Put a backslash before special characters, for example 'v1\.2' to match v1.2 literally.
2. Keep the find and replace text in single quotation marks so PowerShell does not expand $.
3. Use -creplace if only one capitalisation should change.

Notepad find and replace FAQ

How to find and replace text?

In Notepad, Word and most Windows editors, press Ctrl + H, type the text to find and the replacement, then select Replace all. Select Replace instead to change one match at a time and check each change as you go.

How to replace text?

Open the find and replace box with Ctrl + H, enter the old text in the first box and the new text in the second. Replace changes the current match, and Replace all changes every match in the document at once.

How to search and replace text?

Use Ctrl + F to search for text without changing it, and Ctrl + H when you also want to replace it. In Notepad, turn on Match case for an exact-capitals search and Wrap around to search the whole document from any cursor position.

How to do text replacement in a text file without opening it?

Use PowerShell: wrap Get-Content in parentheses, pipe each line through -replace 'old', 'new', and pipe the result to Set-Content with the same path. If you check the PowerShell version and it is Windows PowerShell 5.1, add -Encoding UTF8 to keep non-English characters.

How to replace all in a text file?

Open the file in Notepad, press Ctrl + H, fill in both boxes and select Replace all. Every match in the open document changes in one step, and Ctrl + Z undoes it if the result is wrong.

How to find and replace text in Word?

Go to Home > Editing > Replace, type the word in Find what and the new word in Replace with, then select Replace All. Open More and select Match case for a case-sensitive replacement. Ctrl + H opens the same tool.

Can Notepad find and replace text in multiple files?

Notepad's Replace works on the document you have open. To change many files at once, run Get-ChildItem on the folder in PowerShell and pass each file through Get-Content, -replace and Set-Content.