Use find and replace in the Components browser

If you are an administrator or have permissions, you can search for text in one or more components without opening them. You can select a non-binary, unlocked file from the Components browser to use the Selected Components panel option for find and replace. You can also go to the Folders pane and use the right-click menu on a folder to access the Find/Replace components option.

After you select a non-binary, unlocked file from the Components browser, you can look in the Selected Components pane for the snowflake icon.

You can also search for text in all content contained in a folder without having to select them one at a time. In the Components browser, after you select a folder in the Folders pane, you can select an option called Find/Replace components.

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.

Both Find/Replace component options open a screen that allows you to:

  • Search and create a report on the number of times the search text appears.
  • Update a component 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/Replace components option there too.
  • You can select the checkbox for as many components as you want to search.
  • 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 you choose 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