Writer: how can I search for character syle?

[ajlittoz]

Edit → Find & Replace allows to search for paragraph styles, which is handy to spot erroneous use of paragraph style (according to local conventions). But the same cannot apparently be done for character style.

Is this a design decision? Or is the feature hidden somewhere else?

The same question could be asked for frame styles.
The case of page and list styles is less critical since they are applied relatively less often. A page is easy to spot and list styles are in principle associated with a paragraph style and this can be checked through the style navigator.

[dajare]

I added the answer about the AltSearch extension, but perhaps your question is rather about whether this sort of feature ought to be part of LibO Writer’s “core” functionality?

[ajlittoz]

This was not in my intention, but since the feature is offered for paragraph style, it should also be offered for other styles. I had a rather hard time chasing for a stray use of a character style before I installed the AltSearch extension.

[dajare]

What you want is the Alternative Search extension for Writer.

It works a treat, although it has a blip of a learning curve to get past. You could have a look at the instructions I got from @manj_k which should get you going, especially since you’re interested in other searches of this kind as well.

[ajlittoz]

@dajare - Nice extension. Did want I wanted to. However, seems slower than standard search, maybe because lot of aditional tests are made while searching.

I could not install it system-wide, even under root. Did I miss something from the wiki page?

[PeterCM]

I found AltSearch to be my most useful extension (despite having a couple of minor bugs), and I actually used it rather frequently for finding text formatted in a particular character style! Unfortunately, it hasn’t been maintained for over a year and no longer loads in the latest version of LibreOffice (version 5). If the author doesn’t update it, I’m going to have to maintain a parallel install of 4.4.5.2 just so I can continue to use it from time to time…

[dajare]

@peter-cm - Interesting to hear you say that. Perhaps you could comment on a Q&A I opened about AltSearch and LibO Writer 5. It would be helpful to gather experience, I think.

[philkrylov]

thank you for the pointer! The extension seems to work well in 5.3dev

[cl0ne]

Current URL to the extension page: https://extensions.libreoffice.org/extensions/alternative-dialog-find-replace-for-writer