Jay,
I am posting my full code, I am still having two issues indicated below.  If
you would be able to "grade" me that would be great.  The logic of my
program:
1) Read all docs in a given directory, search for a stopcode indicated by a
"%".
2) Any doc that is found, replace "%" with a docvariable, then print the
document with the filename in the footer.

2 ISSUES:
**1)NullReferenceException was unhandled
      Use the "new" keyword to create an object instance.
THIS ERROR APPEARS ON THE LINE----> section = oDoc.Sections(1)
(note - I only have one section on each document that will print)

**2)this line gives an error:
 
section.Add.Footers.Item(Word.WdHeaderFooterIndex.wdHeaderFooterPrimary).Range.Fields.Add((Microsoft.Office.Interop.Word.WdFieldType.wdFieldEmpty),
"FILENAME", True)

ERROR--->"Value ot type 'Microsoft.Office.Interop.Word.WdFieldTYpe
cannot be converted to 'Microsoft.Office.Interop.Word.Range'.
*****************************
CODE:
Option Explicit On

Imports Word = Microsoft.Office.Interop.Word
Imports System.IO

Public Class Form1
   Public Numberoffiles As Integer
   Public StopCodes As Integer
   Public oWord As New Word.Application
   Public oDoc As Word.Document
   Public str As String
   Public sw As New StringWriter

   Public Sub btnUpdate_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As
System.EventArgs) Handles btnUpdate.Click
     
       Call getdocs()        
   End Sub

   Public Sub getdocs()

       Try
           oWord.System.Cursor = Word.WdCursorType.wdCursorWait
           With oWord.FileSearch              
               .LookIn = "J:\test"              
               .FileName = "*.doc"
               .Execute()
               For Each str In .FoundFiles                
                   Numberoffiles += 1
                   CkStopCode()
                   oWord.Documents.Save()
                   oWord.Documents.Close()
               Next
           End With
           MessageBox.Show("Total docs " & Numberoffiles.ToString & vbCrLf _
& "Total Stop Code Docs = " & stopcodes.tostring)

           oWord.Application.Quit()

       Finally
           
       End Try
   End Sub
 

   Public Sub CkStopCode()
'search each document for a stopcode, if stopcode found document should be
printed
       Dim printdoc As String
       Dim orng As Word.Range
       orng = oWord.ActiveDocument.Range
       Dim fnd As Word.Find = orng.Find      
       Dim section As Word.Sections
       section = oDoc.Sections(1)
     
       Dim wordFooter As Word.WdHeaderFooterIndex =
Word.WdHeaderFooterIndex.wdHeaderFooterPrimary
       
      oWord.Documents.Open(str)        
     printdoc = "N"      
       fnd.ClearFormatting()
       fnd.Forward = True
       fnd.Text = "%"
       fnd.Execute()
       If fnd.Found = True Then
           StopCodes += 1
           printdoc = "Y"
       End If
       Do While fnd.Found
           orng.Delete()
           orng.Fields.Add(orng, Word.WdFieldType.wdFieldDocVariable,
"$$$", True)
           fnd.Execute()
       Loop

       'if stopcode found, print doc w/ filename in the footer
       If printdoc = "Y" Then
           
section.Add.Footers.Item(Word.WdHeaderFooterIndex.wdHeaderFooterPrimary).Range.Fields.Add((Microsoft.Office.Interop.Word.WdFieldType.wdFieldEmpty),
"FILENAME", True)

       oDoc.PrintOut()
       End If
   End Sub

End Class

***
Jay,
Many thanks for your help with this!
Diane