How to Fix “Find & Replace”?

Hello Anniah,

Welcome to Microsoft Q&A.

I understand your confusion when you're having trouble with Word.

To resolve the problem, here are few ways you can try:

1. Reset the App: Go to your iPad's Settings > Word, scroll to the bottom, and tap Reset or Clear Cache. You can choose to clear all documents and/or delete sign-in credentials. Try deleting the sign-in credentials first.
2. Check for iPadOS Updates: Go to Settings > General > Software Update to ensure your iPad's operating system is fully up to date. And you also need to make sure Word is updated to the latest version.
3. Sometimes iOS accessibility features interfere with UI elements: Go to Settings > Accessibility. Review settings like Display & Text Size or Zoom that might affect visibility.
4. Finally, I would strongly encourage you to report this directly to Microsoft. Inside the Word app, go to Help > Feedback. This sends a report to the development team, and the more users who report a specific bug, the faster they are likely to fix it in the next update.

Please let me know if you need further assistance.

Best regards,

Alex | Microsoft Q&A Specialist

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 

If the answer is helpful, please click "Accept Answer" and kindly upvote it. If you have extra questions about this answer, please click "Comment".  

Note: Please follow the steps in our documentation to enable e-mail notifications if you want to receive the related email notification for this thread. 

Hello Anniah,

Thank you for your clarification.

That means the UI element for entering search terms doesn’t appear at all, even though the menu briefly reacts. So, the problem is not with the search itself, but with the input field failing to render

You can try to force Close and Reopen Word by swipe up from the bottom of the screen, find Word, and swipe it away. Reopen the app and test the "Find" feature again.

Or try to switch your iPad to landscape orientation. Sometimes UI elements are hidden in portrait mode due to layout bugs.

If those didn't work, tap the expand arrows to enter full-screen editing mode. This can force UI elements to re-render.

Finally, you can try to check for Display Zoom or Font Settings: Go to Settings > Display & Brightness > Display Zoom. Set it to Standard instead of Zoomed, which can interfere with app layouts.

Please let me know if you need further assistance.

Best regards,

Alex | Microsoft Q&A Specialist

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 

If the answer is helpful, please click "Accept Answer" and kindly upvote it. If you have extra questions about this answer, please click "Comment".  

Note: Please follow the steps in our documentation to enable e-mail notifications if you want to receive the related email notification for this thread.