This is an ease-of-use thing.

When finding/replacing throughout a document, the user should be able to
leave the mouse in place if selecting the same option that was selected last
time (i.e. "find next" or "replace").

What happens instead, though, is that the find/replace box moves (or not)
each time Word searches the document and highlights the next occurrence of
the search query. Sometimes the find/replace box stays put, and the document
scrolls appropriately so that the "found" item is visible. Sometimes,
though, Word moves the find/replace window to make the item visible instead.
I haven't noticed any consistency as to when it does one vs. the other, but I
know it's not out of necessity.

There are cases where Word may NEED to re-locate the find/replace
dialogue... basically, any time a combination of vertical and horizontal
scrolling is insufficient to reveal the "found item." Unfortunately, Word
does not limit itself to these necessities... or, if it is trying to, it is
really bad at figuring out which cases are necessary and which are not.

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