Format part of a found text string

Word's replace function is capable of applying formatting to found strings, but only the whole of a found string. Sometimes it is desirable to format only part of the string e.g. you may search for the chemical symbol for water H2O in order to format the 2 as subscript. The replace function cannot do that. With this example the simplest solution is to copy the correctly formatted version to the clipboard and replace the find string H2O with the clipboard contents H2O i.e. put ^c  in the replace with box. OR You could create a macro to do so. The following shows two techniques for selecting a digit from a found item. Sub Subscript2_in_H2O() Dim rText As Range With Selection     .HomeKey wdStory     With .Find         .ClearFormatting         .Replacement.ClearFormatting         Do While .Execute(findText:="H2O", _             MatchWildcards:=False, _             Wrap:=wdFindStop, _             Forward:=True) = True             Set rText = Selection.Range 'The found text             With rText 'Do what you want with the found text                 'move the start position of the found text one character right                 .MoveStart Unit:=wdCharacter, Count:=1                 'move the end position of the found text one character to the left                 .MoveEnd Unit:=wdCharacter, Count:=-1                 'the text string is now one character long i.e. the "2"                 .Font.Subscript = True 'apply subscript to the remaining text string             End With         Loop 'and look for the next match     End With End With End Sub or even simpler Sub Subscript2_in_H2ORev1() With Selection     .HomeKey wdStory         With .Find             .ClearFormatting             .Replacement.ClearFormatting             Do While .Execute(findText:="H2O", _                      MatchWildcards:=False, _                      Wrap:=wdFindStop, _                      Forward:=True) = True                'Do what you want with the found text (Selection.Range)                'In this case format the second character as subscripted                 Selection.Range.Characters(2).Font.Subscript = True             Loop 'and look for the next match         End With End With End Sub