Document Editing Problems

How to Find and Replace All Emoji Characters in Word

Olivia Miller Oct 10, 2026 871 views

Question details

The user needs a method or shortcut to find and replace multiple different emoji characters all at once within a Word document, rather than processing them individually.

How to Find and Replace All Emoji Characters in Microsoft Word

Product: Microsoft Word
Device & OS: not provided
Scenario: Reformatting text data, such as expense reports, where various emojis have been used as visual markers and now need to be standardized or removed.
Observed behavior: Word's standard Find and Replace tool successfully locates specific, individually pasted emojis, but it does not offer a built-in wildcard or category to automatically identify all emoji characters at the same time.

Before you start

Before attempting to replace emojis, copy an example of the specific emoji from your document to your clipboard, as standard word processors require exact character matching for search functions.

Solution 1Recommended

Use Find and Replace for Specific Emoji Characters

Since there is no universal wildcard for all emojis, the most straightforward built-in method is to find and replace known emojis one by one.

Copy the target emoji

Highlight the specific emoji in your Word document that you want to replace, right-click, and select 'Copy' (or press Ctrl+C).

Open the Find and Replace dialog

Press Ctrl+H on your keyboard, or navigate to the Home tab and click 'Replace' in the Editing group.

Paste and configure replacement

Click inside the 'Find what' box and press Ctrl+V to paste the emoji. In the 'Replace with' box, type the text or formatting you wish to substitute.

Execute the replacement

Click the 'Replace All' button to instantly swap all instances of that specific emoji throughout your document.

Use Find and Replace for Specific Emoji Characters

Repetitive Task: You will need to repeat this process for each unique emoji character present in your text.

Solution 2

Utilize a VBA Macro to Strip High-Range Unicode Characters

Advanced users can run a custom VBA macro to loop through the document and delete characters outside the standard text ranges, which effectively removes most emojis.

Solution 3

Preprocess the Document Using a RegEx Text Editor

Use a specialized plain-text editor like Notepad++ that supports advanced Regular Expressions (RegEx) to strip all emojis before moving the text back to Word.

Edit and Manage Document Symbols Seamlessly with WPS Office

WPS Office offers a fast, lightweight, and highly compatible word processing environment. It features a robust Find and Replace tool that easily handles individual emojis, formatting, and complex symbols, providing a smooth editing experience without heavy software requirements.

1. Open your document in WPS Writer: Launch WPS Office and open the .docx file containing the emojis you need to reformat.
2. Access the Find and Replace utility: Press Ctrl+H on your keyboard to instantly open the Find and Replace dialog box.
3. Replace the specific emoji: Paste your target emoji into the 'Find what' field, type your new data into 'Replace with', and click 'Replace All'.

Free and lightweight word processor with a highly intuitive interfaceSeamless and full format compatibility with Microsoft Word (.docx)Efficient Find and Replace utility for text, symbols, and formattingBuilt-in advanced document management tools

microsoft office alternative - wps office

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I use wildcards to find all emojis at once in Word?

No. Microsoft Word's built-in wildcard feature does not support a universal category or a single Unicode range block capable of capturing all emojis simultaneously.

How do I find out the Unicode value of an emoji in my document?

Select the specific emoji character in your Word document and press Alt+X. Word will automatically convert the character to display its underlying Unicode hexadecimal value.

Why do emojis sometimes display as blank square boxes in Word?

This usually occurs if the font you are using does not contain the necessary glyphs for that specific emoji, or if you are using an older version of the software that lacks updated Unicode rendering support.

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