New LBDocumentClass Properties:

string Ascii - Ascii of the entire document text - used for searching
bool HasSymbolCharacters - Looks for symbol characters in the text
Method
ReplaceSymbolCharacters - Replaces any symbol characters with standard characters.

PROMS/LBWordLibrary/LBObjectExtension.cs

@@ -273,6 +273,154 @@ namespace LBWordLibrary
 				return retval;
 			}
 		}
+		public string Ascii
+		{
+			get
+			{
+				LBRange myRange = Range();
+				myRange = myRange.GoTo(LBWdGoToItem.wdGoToPercent, LBWdGoToDirection.wdGoToLast, 100);
+				myRange.Start = 0;
+				return ReplaceSymbolCharacters(GetRangeText(myRange));
+			}
+		}
+		/// <summary>
+		/// Checks to see if the document contains symbol characters
+		/// </summary>
+		/// <returns></returns>
+		public bool HasSymbolCharacters
+		{
+			get
+			{
+				LBRange myRange = Range();
+				myRange = myRange.GoTo(LBWdGoToItem.wdGoToPercent, LBWdGoToDirection.wdGoToLast, 100);
+				myRange.Start = 0;
+				string myText = GetRangeText(myRange);
+				return _RegFindSymbol.IsMatch(myText);
+			}
+		}
+		Regex _RegFindSymbol = new Regex("[\\uF000-\\uF0FF]+");
+		/// <summary>
+		/// FixSymbolCharacters - Fix any symbol characters in the document
+		/// </summary>
+		public void FixSymbolCharacters()
+		{
+			// Set up range object to be used to process text
+			LBRange myRange = Range();
+			myRange = myRange.GoTo(LBWdGoToItem.wdGoToPercent, LBWdGoToDirection.wdGoToLast, 100);
+			int end = myRange.End;
+			myRange.Start = 0;
+			string myText = GetRangeText(myRange);
+			MatchCollection problems = _RegFindSymbol.Matches(myText);
+			int offset = 0;
+			foreach (Match problem in problems)
+			{
+				myRange.Start = problem.Index + offset;
+				myRange.End = problem.Index + problem.Length + offset;
+				int newOffset = FindRangeOffset(myRange, problem, offset, end);
+				ReplaceSymbolCharacters(myRange);
+				offset = newOffset;
+			}
+		}
+		/// <summary>
+		/// Get the Range Text with error handling.  myRange.Text sometimes will get a null reference exception.
+		/// </summary>
+		/// <param name="myRange"></param>
+		/// <returns></returns>
+		internal static string GetRangeText(LBRange myRange)
+		{
+			string text="";
+			try
+			{
+				text = myRange.Text;
+			}
+			catch (Exception ex)
+			{
+				Console.WriteLine("{0} - {1}", ex.GetType().Name, ex.Message);
+			}
+			return text;
+		}
+		/// <summary>
+		/// Looks for the problem string and adjusts the range as necessary
+		/// </summary>
+		/// <param name="myRange"></param>
+		/// <param name="problem"></param>
+		/// <param name="offset"></param>
+		/// <param name="end"></param>
+		/// <returns></returns>
+		private int FindRangeOffset(LBRange myRange, Match problem, int offset, int end)
+		{
+			// try to find the string
+			string text = GetRangeText(myRange);
+			if (text != problem.Value)
+			{
+				// Get the entire text starting at the offset of the first match
+				myRange.Start = problem.Index + offset;
+				myRange.End = end;
+				text = GetRangeText(myRange);
+				while (!text.StartsWith(problem.Value))
+				{
+					int newStart = text.IndexOf(problem.Value);// Find the string if it is not at the beginning
+					myRange.Start += myRange.Start == newStart ? newStart + 1 : newStart; // adjust the starting location
+					text = GetRangeText(myRange);// get the text to check
+				}
+				myRange.End = myRange.Start + problem.Length; // assume that the end should be the start plus the length
+				text = GetRangeText(myRange);
+				while (text.Length < problem.Length) // If the result is too short increase the length
+				{
+					myRange.End += (problem.Length - text.Length);
+					text = GetRangeText(myRange);
+				}
+			}
+			return myRange.Start - problem.Index;
+		}
+		/// <summary>
+		/// ReplaceSymbolCharacters Replaces any symbol characters in the specified range
+		/// </summary>
+		/// <param name="myRange"></param>
+		private static void ReplaceSymbolCharacters(LBRange myRange)
+		{
+			try
+			{
+				string before = GetRangeText(myRange);
+				string updated = ReplaceSymbolCharacters(before);
+				myRange.Text = updated;
+				string after = GetRangeText(myRange);
+				if (after != updated)  // If the Word text doesn't match try including a character before and after and do it again.
+				{
+					Console.WriteLine("'TryEntireRange Failed',{0},{1},'{2}','{3}','{4}'", myRange.Start, myRange.End, before, updated, after);
+					int end = myRange.End;
+					myRange.Start = myRange.Start - 1;
+					myRange.End = end + 1;
+					myRange.Text = ReplaceSymbolCharacters(GetRangeText(myRange));
+					Console.WriteLine("'TryEntireRange Failed',{0},{1},'{2}'", myRange.Start, myRange.End, GetRangeText(myRange));
+				}
+			}
+			catch (Exception ex)
+			{
+				Console.WriteLine("'TryEntireRange Exception',{0},{1},'{2}'", myRange.Start, myRange.End, ex.Message);
+			}
+		}
+		/// <summary>
+		/// ReplaceSymbolCharacters processes the string returned and changes any symbols (0xF0??) to normal characters
+		/// </summary>
+		/// <param name="str"></param>
+		/// <returns></returns>
+		private static string ReplaceSymbolCharacters(string str)
+		{
+			StringBuilder results = new StringBuilder();
+			foreach (char c in str)
+			{
+				if ((c & 0xFF00) == 0xF000)
+					results.Append((char)(c & 0xFF));
+				else
+					results.Append((char)(c));
+			}
+			return results.ToString();
+		}
+		/// <summary>
+		/// Close the document
+		/// </summary>
+		/// <param name="SaveChanges">Save Changes</param>
 		public void Close(bool SaveChanges)
 		{
 			InvokeMethod("Close", SaveChanges, Missing.Value, Missing.Value);
@@ -334,9 +482,10 @@ namespace LBWordLibrary
 				{
 					myRange.Start = start;
 					myRange.End = start + 1;
-					if (Regex.IsMatch(myRange.Text, "[A-Z]")) return true;
-					if (Regex.IsMatch(myRange.Text, "[a-z]")) return false;
-					start = start - 1;
+					string previous = LBDocumentClass.GetRangeText(myRange);
+					if (Regex.IsMatch(previous, "[A-Z]")) return true;
+					if (Regex.IsMatch(previous, "[a-z]")) return false;
+					start = start - 1; 
 				}
 				return false;
 			}