Use find and replace at the folder level

If you are an administrator or have permissions, you can search in all content contained in a folder without opening the components or having to select them one at a time. In the Components browser, after you select a folder in the Folders pane, you can use the right-click menu to select an option called Find/Replace components. This opens a screen that allows you to search and create a report on the number of times the search text appears. You can also update a component without opening it by using the Replace option on the Find and Replace screen. Inspire creates a report showing you how many times the text was found and replaced.

Tips and tricks

  • You must have specific permissions to use Find and Replace.

  • If you're working in a project, you can use the Find and Replace option there too.
  • If the folder you select contains sub-folders, those are not included in the search by default. If you want to include them, on the Find/Replace components screen, select the Include Subfolders option.

  • If you choose a component that's locked ( by you, by another user, it's approved, approved and signed, or by the system) Inspire skips it and adds a warning to your notification.
  • If the folder you select contains a binary component, Inspire skips it and adds a warning to your notification.
  • Searching for text and creating a report does not update or change any of the components you're searching in.
  • Replacing text allows Inspire to update and save changes for any of the components you're searching in.
  • You can choose to search for text in any of the following component parts:
    • Text between element tags
      • You can choose whether your search is case sensitive or not.
    • XML attribute values
      • You select attribute names.
      • You can choose whether your search is case sensitive or not.
    • Processing instructions
      • You can search processing instruction Content.
      • You can search processing instruction Name.
      • You can choose whether your search is case sensitive or not.
    • Comments
      • You can choose whether your search is case sensitive or not.
    • All parts of a component, both code and text
      • You can choose whether your search is case sensitive or not.
      • You can build regular expressions.
      • You can choose to ignore whitespace.
  • You can select text used in a previous search instead of re-typing keywords or phrases.
  • 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\(with_endnotes\).

  • 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

Follow the steps to search a folder in any of the following scenarios: