Find and replace text

You can search for specific words, phrases, numbers, and characters, and automatically replace search results with new content that you specify. All content, including content on skipped slides and in presenter notes, is included in the search.

Search for specific text

  1. Click View button in the toolbar, then choose Show Find & Replace.

  2. In the search field, enter the word or phrase you want to find.

    Matches are highlighted as you enter text.

  3. To find words that match the capitalization you specify, or to restrict search results to the whole words you entered, click Advanced options button, then choose Match Case or Whole Words.

  4. Click the arrow buttons to find the next or previous match.

To see or clear recent searches, click the arrow next to the magnifying glass.

Replace found text

  1. Click View button in the toolbar, then choose Show Find & Replace.

  2. Click Advanced options button in the Find & Replace window, then choose Find & Replace.

    You can also select other options, such as Whole Words and Match Case, to refine your search.

  3. Enter a word or phrase in the first field.

    As you enter text, matches are highlighted. The first match is selected and highlighted in yellow.

  4. Enter the replacement word or phrase in the second field.

    If you leave the Replace field blank, all instances of the found text are deleted when you replace the found text.

    Find & Replace window with callout to the button to show more options
  5. Use the buttons at the bottom of the Find panel to review and change the text matches:

    • Replace All: Replaces all text matches with the replacement text.

    • Replace & Find: Replaces the selected match and moves to the next.

    • Replace: Replaces the selected match with the replacement text but doesn’t move to the next match.

    • Previous or Next arrow: Moves to the previous or next match without making a change.

Use text substitutions

You can set Keynote to automatically replace certain text with text that you specify. For example, it can replace “teh” with “the” or “(c)” with ©.

  1. Choose Edit > Substitutions > Show Substitutions (from the Edit menu at the top of your screen).

    If you want to apply replacements to specific text, select the text.

  2. In the Substitutions window, select the Text Replacement checkbox, then click Text Preferences.

    The Text pane of Keyboard preferences opens in System Preferences.

  3. Click Plus button, then type the text you want to replace (such as “teh”) in the Replace column.

  4. Type the word you want to replace it with (such as “the”) in the With column.

    Click outside the text fields before closing the window.

  5. Click a button to replace all occurrences of the replacement text in the presentation, or only in the selected text.

When Text Replacement is turned on for the presentation, a checkmark appears next to Text Replacement in the Substitutions menu. You can deselect Text Replacement to turn it off.

Note: Your text replacement settings apply to other applications on your computer, such as TextEdit, that also use substitutions. If you don’t want to use a text replacement, you can turn off Text Replacement for the selected text in the Substitutions window.