Every time Apple updates its software, it adds new features and technology. A minor yet handy addition in iOS is the Find and Replace feature of Apple Notes.
Find and Replace is a default feature in most word processors, including Word and Pages, so it is logical to add it to Notes.
For iPhone users who enjoy taking notes and brainstorming through Notes, this feature will be a great addition.
The following steps explain how to Find & Replace text on iPhone Notes!
Using Apple Notes to Find and Replace text: 2 Ways
Take note that this feature can only be used on iPhones running iOS 16 or later. You may want to update your iPhone to iOS 16 if you haven’t already.
Using this feature, you can find a word or phrase in your note, and it highlights them all for you. You can replace them instantly with the word or phrase of your choice in a blink.
Especially if you have mistakenly misspelled a word sprinkled throughout your text, this feature will save you a lot of time. You can go about it two ways.
1. Using Find in Notes
The Find in Note feature is available in Note’s contextual menus.
Let’s begin:
Step 1. Go to the Notes app. Next, open the note you created.
Step 2. Select More (…) icon → Find in Note.
Step 3. Enter the word you want to find. It should be highlighted in yellow. There will be an indication of how many of these words it finds in your note on the right hand side of the text field. Tap the Up (^) and Down (v) icons to look each word in the text.
Step 4. Tap the Search (magnifying glass) icon → choose Find & Replace.
Step 5. Simply enter the word or phrase you would like to replace your selected word with, then tap Replace. As a result, the word or phrase highlighted in yellow on the screen will be replaced. You will have to tap Replace several times if you want to replace all the words.
Step 6. Tap Done to finish.
2. Using Find Selection
You can also use the following method:
Step 1. Open a note in the Notes app. Then, highlight the word that you want to replace. You will see a contextual menu.
Step 2. Select Find Selection. You will be able to highlight the selected word throughout the note when you do so. (If you don’t see Find Selection among the first three options, go to the > icon to see more options → tap Find Selection.)
Step 3. Select the Search (magnifying glass) icon → Find & Replace.
Step 4. Simply type in the word(s) or phrase you wish to replace the selected ones with.
Step 5. Then tap Replace.
Step 6. Once you have finished, click Done.
Refine Your Search in the Notes App
There are also Whole Words and Match Case options in addition to Find & Replace. You can refine your search using these two options.
If you want Notes to only detect whole words that match the search instead of every word containing the search word, select Whole Words. The Notes program will also detect “Standard” and “android” if you search and replace “and.”
Match Case is a useful feature if you are looking for a word in a particular case (lower case or upper case). Say, for example, you want to find the word “iPhone” but exclude everything else containing the word “iphone” in your search.
You can also use Quick Notes on iOS 16 in addition to Find & Replace on your iPhone. The features listed above are just some of the valuable additions Apple gave iOS 16 with its latest release.
Let’s Wrap It Up
Manually changing each incorrect word while scrolling through notes is tedious and time-consuming. You can be sure that none of the words you want to replace will go unnoticed with Find & Replace.
How would this Find & Replace feature be useful to you? Let us know in the comments section!
