Find and replace project text in all content types

If you are an administrator or have permissions, you can search for and replace text in one or more components without opening them. You can choose Replace All to change a term anywhere in each component you select. This search can match text regardless of whether it's an attribute or element name, an attribute or element value, processing instruction, or comment. Changes are then saved to the Inspire database. For more details on how a search through all content types works, read Finding project text in code and content to replace or report on.

A content owner or administrator can set permissions to deny access to components or folders. If your permissions to content has been blocked and you are not an administrator, you cannot use the Find and Replace option in the Selected Components pane.

Use supported components

  • If you choose a component that's locked ( by you, by another user, by the system) Inspire skips it and adds a warning to your notification.
  • If you choose a binary component, Inspire skips it and adds a warning to your notification.

If you want to use other find and replace options for projects, follow the steps in:

To update project text in all content types:

  1. Click Projects_TopMenuOpt Projects.
  2. On the Project Management tab, all projects in your organization are listed. To find a specific project, you can:
    • Filter the list of available projects by words in the project name. In the Search text box, enter a keyword, and then click the magnifying glass search_button.
    • Filter the list of available projects to include only those you own or are participating in. In Type, select an option to filter the list by that criteria.
    • To include completed projects in the list, select Include Completed and then click the magnifying glass search_button.
  3. To open a project, select the project and double-click it.
    You can also open a project by:
    • Right-clicking the project and then selecting Open.
    • Clicking Action_Menu the Options menu and then selecting Open.
  4. In the Content pane, navigate to the folder where you've saved the project components you want to search in.
  5. To select components, do one of the following:
    • Select the checkbox before the name of the components you want to search in.
    • Select all components in a folder by selecting the checkbox at the folder level.

  6. On the Selected Components panel, click Find/Replace components.
  7. In Scope, select All.
  8. On the Find/Replace components screen, in Find, do one of the following:
    Tips and tricks
    • Using parenthesis. Inspire recognizes a parenthesis character ( ) as something that indicates a grouping of search items. If you want to search for a text value that actually contains a parenthesis character ( ), you must tell Inspire to interpret it literally. To do that, use a slash \ before any parenthesis character ( ). For example, if you want to search for the following value: Chapter1_Intro(with_endnotes), in the Search for box you would enter Chapter1_Intro\(with_endnotes\).

    • Enter the search text.

    • Select text used in a previous search.

    • Enter tags to search for (Ex: /> <b). You must select a Scope of All and then select the Ignore whitespace option.

    • Enter a regular expression (Ex. \/>(\s+)<b([^>]+)>WARNING<\/>) You must select the Regular expression option. To learn more about building regular expressions, go to: https://regex101.com/.

  9. In Replace, enter the new text exactly as you want it to appear.
    You can also select text used in a previous search.
  10. Optionally, you can select the option to make your search Case Sensitive.
  11. Click Replace All.
    Result: You are asked to confirm that you want to replace text in the number of components you selected.

  12. Click Yes.
    Results:
    • You see a notification that a Replace All process has started.
    • After the process is complete, you see another notification.

    • The report tells you a number of times your search string appears in each components you selected.

    Tips and tricks

    After using Find and Replace to update content, Inspire updates the following information in the Components Browser and in the Component Details History tab:

    • Updated By
    • Updated Date
    • Last Updated By