# Arcane MS word Q: find and replace all Chinese characters

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/arcane-ms-word-q-find-and-replace-all-chinese-characters/616651>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [March 23, 2012, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/arcane-ms-word-q-find-and-replace-all-chinese-characters/616651 "2012-03-23T23:26:55Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Koxinga](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/4af34b/32.png) [@Koxinga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Koxinga)\
**Post date:** [March 23, 2012, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/arcane-ms-word-q-find-and-replace-all-chinese-characters/616651/1 "2012-03-23T23:26:55Z")

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I’d like to set up a macro that deletes all Chinese characters in a document. (Not _a_ character, any and all characters. But leave numbers, punctuation and Western letters alone.) I suspect it would involve some kind of script instructing to find all “full width characters.” How to do so is quite beyond me, though, and Googling hasn’t been much help. You guys have any ideas?

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**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\
**Post date:** [March 24, 2012, 1:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/arcane-ms-word-q-find-and-replace-all-chinese-characters/616651/2 "2012-03-24T01:26:34Z")

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Does the document use Unicode? If so, find all characters in the [CJK ranges](http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/CJK_Unified_Ideographs) and nuke them. What are you replacing them with?

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**Author:** ![Reply](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/reply/32/15952_2.png) [@Reply](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reply)\
**Post date:** [March 24, 2012, 2:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/arcane-ms-word-q-find-and-replace-all-chinese-characters/616651/3 "2012-03-24T02:41:49Z")

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And if it doesn’t use Unicode, you can find all non-standard-ASCII characters and nuke them AS LONG AS the rest of the document is in standard English and not other languages.  
In find and replace, turn on “Use wildcard” (and nothing else) and find:

```auto

[!^32-^255,’]

```

And replace with nothing.

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**Author:** ![Koxinga](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/4af34b/32.png) [@Koxinga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Koxinga)\
**Post date:** [May 31, 2012, 12:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/arcane-ms-word-q-find-and-replace-all-chinese-characters/616651/4 "2012-05-31T00:57:15Z")

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> [@Sunspace](#):
>
> Does the document use Unicode? If so, find all characters in the [CJK ranges](http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/CJK_Unified_Ideographs) and nuke them. What are you replacing them with?

Sorry for the late followup – but wanted to ask: I think I figured out how to search for a single Unicode character, but it seems to only allow that when “wildcards” are off. As such, I’m wondering how is it possible to search for a _range_ of unicode characters using the find/replace dialog box? Or is this not possible . . .

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**Author:** ![Nametag](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nametag/32/406_2.png) [@Nametag](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nametag)\
**Post date:** [June 1, 2012, 4:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/arcane-ms-word-q-find-and-replace-all-chinese-characters/616651/5 "2012-06-01T04:03:13Z")

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I haven’t got Word on this computer, but I’d start with this:

In the “Find and Replace” dialog box, click in the “find” box, then click “More”; click “Format…” and select “Font.” Select the Chinese font you’re trying to get rid of, and click “OK.” Click in the “Replace” box and leave it blank. Start it up and see what happens.