You could use a wildcard Find/Replace, with:
Find = '(<*>)'
Replace = ' \1'
(without the single quotes) and, for the 'Find' expression, choosing Format|Font|Italic.
I've tried that. but I get a response from word saying
"the replace with text contains a group number which is out of range"
What I have are novels that have been scanned by a third party to convert to e-books and everywhere there are italics words, the space is missing before it so its smooshed together with the word before it.
The Find/Replace works fine for me. Did you remove the single quotes?
However, you seem to have a more fundamental problem - if the space really has been deleted, what you're looking for is not a series of words, but merely a series of italic characters - there are no 'words' for the Find/Replace to Find. For example, if you've got:
This site uses cookies to help personalise content, tailor your experience and to keep you logged in if you register.
By continuing to use this site, you are consenting to our use of cookies.