How to Extract Pages From a Microsoft Word Document

You can thank Larry Tesler of Xerox for inventing the cut, copy and paste operations you use to manipulate computer content. This capability is invaluable when working in programs such as Microsoft Word. Like many applications, you can begin working in Word without necessarily understanding all productivity tools available to you. In Word, you can type words or phrases, select them using your mouse and press "Ctrl-C" to copy them. That works, but additional shortcuts can help you find text and manipulate it productively. You can even extract entire pages from a Word document quickly.

If your document is not in Print Layout view, switch to that view by clicking "View" and selecting "Print Layout." In this view, you can see individual pages easily and the breaks between them.

Word's Navigation pane provides several ways to find content instantly. Press "Ctrl-F" to display that pane, and you can type a search query in the search box to navigate to the page that contains your search term. Word also has a Find and Replace window that enables you to perform more advanced find-and-replace operations. Open it by clicking the search box's magnifying glass icon and then clicking "Advanced Find." If you don't see that icon, click the "X" on the search box's right edge to display it.

If you know the page number you'd like to extract, click the Find and Replace window's "Go To" tab and then click "Page" in the "Go To What" text box. Type the page number in the "Enter Page Number:" text box, click "Go To" and Word navigates to that page.

The Find and Replace window has several check boxes that can help you zero in on specific types of information. Put a check mark next to "Match Case" to find only text that matches the case of the term you type in the "Find What" text box. You can also check the "Find Whole Words Only" check box to find whole words only. For instance, if you check that option, Word does not find the word "money" if you search for "one." Put a check mark next to "Use Wildcards," and you can use wildcards to find words that sound similar, variations of words and other groups of words.

If you jump to a specific page number, your cursor moves to the top of that page. If you use another method to find text on a page, the cursor may not move to the top of the page. When that happens, highlight the first word on the page, hold down your "Shift" key and press your down arrow repeatedly to highlight all the page's content. You could also use your mouse to select all content on the page. Press "Ctrl-C" to copy the highlighted content to the Windows clipboard after you select it. You can then paste that content into another document by clicking somewhere in the document and pressing "Ctrl-V." If you'd rather remove highlighted content from your Word page, press "Ctrl-X" instead of "Ctrl-C."

The Find and Replace window's Go To What text box contains other locations to which you can navigate. Those include Section, Line and Comment. Click one of those and follow the instructions when you need to jump to one of those locations. You can also click the Navigation pane's magnifying glass and then click "Graphics," "Tables," "Footnotes" or another object to find those in the document. Press "Enter" to jump to the object.

These instructions explain how to extract text from Word 2013. Your steps could differ if you don't use Word 2013.