When there are abbreviations, number numbers, course codes or other regular texts in multiple Word documents at the same time, it is very inefficient to open the files one by one. This article takes six docx files as an example to show how HeSoft Doc Batch Tool Use the "find and replace keywords in Word" function, enter a regular expression through formula fuzzy search, replace three capital letters with a, and replace numbers with B. The article covers the effect before and after processing, detailed operation steps and precautions, and is suitable for office users who need to modify Word content in batches.
When sorting out English materials, course descriptions, project documents or contract attachments, it is often the case that "the same type of content is scattered in many Word documents. For example, multiple docx documents have three abbreviations, number numbers, hours, page numbers, or internal codes. Manual processing is usually to open the first Word, find and replace, save and close; Then open the second Word and repeat the same action. The more documents, the more obvious the duplication of work, and it is difficult to ensure that each document is processed consistently.
If these keywords have obvious rules, you can use the regular expression wildcard formula to complete batch replacement. This article uses HeSoft Doc Batch Tool Demonstrates how to batch find and replace keywords in Word. The software is an office software tool for Word, Excel, PDF and other file batch processing scenarios, the core value is to repeat, mechanical document operations into a task process to complete.
Applicable scenarios: Batch replace Word regular text
this method is suitable for dealing with regular keywords in a large number of Word, docx, and doc documents, rather than just replacing a fixed word. For example, there are three capital abbreviations such as ABC, BOT and ELA in the document. There are numbers such as 60, 100 and 2026. There are project numbers, course numbers, article numbers, etc. If these contents need to be uniformly replaced, desensitized, or changed to placeholders, you can use formula fuzzy lookup.
Compared with manual replacement, the advantages of batch tools are mainly reflected in three aspects. First, files can be imported at once and do not need to be opened one by one. Second, the search rule is set only once and can be applied to all files. Third, multiple rules can be processed simultaneously, such as one rule dealing with capital abbreviations and another dealing with numbers. For those who often organize templates, rules and regulations, course materials and English documents, this kind of operation can save a lot of time.
It should be emphasized that regular expressions are a way to "match text by rules. It is very powerful, but it also requires users to know exactly what they want to match. The more accurate the rule settings, the more controllable the batch replacement results.
Effect Preview: Pre-processing files and document content
as can be seen from the screenshot before processing, there are six Word documents in the sample folder, and the file names are 1.docx, 2.docx, 3.docx, 4.docx, 5.docx, and 6.docx in sequence. These files will be processed as the same batch of tasks.
when you open one of the documents, you can see that the body content contains multiple targets that need to be replaced. BOT appears in the title, ELA appears in the text paragraph, and there are 60 hours of digital content in the sentence. The red arrows point to some of the representative targets, indicating that these keywords are not concentrated in one place, but are scattered throughout the title, paragraph, and explanatory text.
if only one document is being processed, manual lookup is acceptable; however, when the content exists in six, 60, or even more files, manual operation is no longer efficient. More importantly, although BOT and ELA have different specific contents, they both belong to the category of "three capital letters" and can be matched uniformly with the same formula.
Effect Preview: After processing, English abbreviations and numbers are uniformly replaced
after the processing is completed, check the document effect again, you can see that the original three capital letters are replaced with A and the numbers are replaced with B. For example, the beginning position of the title changes from BOT to A, the ELA-related content in the text changes to A, and the original 60, 2, and 5 numbers change to B.
this indicates that the bulk replacement rule has taken effect on the document content. For actual office scenarios, you can replace A and B with what you need, such as "an organization", "a number", "number hidden", "project code", etc. The key lies in the one-to-one correspondence between the left search formula and the right replacement text.
Operation step one: in the Word tool to open the find and replace function
open HeSoft Doc Batch Tool Then, select "Word Tools" in the left navigation bar ". The main interface will show multiple Word batch processing functions. This time, "Find and Replace Keywords in Word" is used ". As can be seen from the screenshot, this function is located in item 1 of the Word tool list, indicating that its purpose is to find and replace keywords in the contents of Word files in batches.
when this function is selected, the software enters a special process flow. The interface is designed for step-by-step operations, and users only need to complete file selection, processing options, save location, and start processing in order. For those who are not familiar with batch processing, this process design can reduce the number of missed steps.
Operation Step 2: Import the docx document
to be processedafter entering the function page, the first step is to "select the records to be processed". The top right of the page provides "add files" and "import files from the folder" two main entry. If the number of files is small, you can click "Add Files"; if the files are all placed in the same folder, it is recommended to click "Import Files from Folder", which is more in line with the use of batch processing.
the imported list in the screenshot contains 6 docx files. The software shows the serial number, name, path, extension, creation time and modification time. The number of records displayed at the bottom is 6, which is used to confirm the number of files in this task. After importing, two points should be checked: one is whether the file path is correct, and the other is whether the extension is the expected Word file type.
If you import files that do not need to be processed, you can delete a single record through the operation column. If the entire list needs to be reselected, you can click "Empty". After confirming that it is correct, click "Next" at the bottom of the page to enter the rule settings.
Operation step 3: Enable formula fuzzy search text
the second step is to "set processing options". In the Find By area, the interface provides two single options, Find Text Exact and Find Text Using Formula Blur. Because this example is matching a type of text, not a fixed word, you should select "Use formula to find text in fuzzy".
the exact find text is suitable for dealing with explicit keywords, such as replacing "old name" with "new name". The formula fuzzy search text is suitable for handling changes, such as all numbers, all three capital letters, some kind of numbering structure, etc. In this example, BOT and ELA can be matched by a three-digit capital letter formula. Numbers such as 60, 2, and 5 can be matched by a numerical formula.
Operation step 4: Enter the regular expression wildcard formula
in the list of keywords to find on the left, enter the formula to find by line. In the screenshot, fill in [A-Z]{3} in line 1 and \d in line 2.
[A-Z]{3} can be understood as: capital letters from A to Z appear 3 times in a row. Therefore, it will match the three-bit capital abbreviations such as BOT and ELA. \d can be understood as: one or more numbers. So it will match the digital content of 60, 2, 5, etc.
The advantage of this setup is that there is no need to list all possible abbreviations and numbers in advance. As long as they conform to the rules described by the formula, the software can find out the contents of the Word document and replace them according to the rules on the right.
Operation step 5: set the replacement result and check the corresponding relationship
in the "Replaced Keyword List" on the right, fill in A in line 1 and B in line 2 of the screenshot example. That is, all text matched by [A-Z]{3} will be replaced by A, and all text matched by \d will be replaced by B.
Be sure to check the line number correspondence here. The first row on the left corresponds to the first row on the right, and the second row on the left corresponds to the second row on the right. If you want to add more rules, you should also maintain this line-by-line structure. For example, if you look for a certain number in line 3, you need to fill in the corresponding replacement content in line 3 on the right.
The Ignore case of letters option is also displayed in the interface. Whether to check or not depends on the actual demand. If you only want to match uppercase abbreviations, it is usually not recommended to ignore case at will. If your document is mixed with uppercase and lowercase and needs to be handled, you can test it in combination with the sample document.
Operation step six: set the output position and perform batch processing
after completing the rules, click "Next". The top process display is followed by "Set Save Location" and "Start Processing". It is recommended to save the processed file to a new folder instead of directly overwriting the original file. This allows you to re-execute the task with the original file, even if you find that the formula range is too large or the replacement content is incorrect.
Once processing begins, the software executes the same set of find replace rules one by one for each file in the import list. After processing, open the result file for inspection. When checking, don't just look at the first replacement. It is best to look at multiple locations such as the title, body, list, and description in brackets to ensure that the replacement range meets expectations.
Frequently Asked Questions and Precautions
1. Why do all the numbers in the example become B? \d is used in the second line on the left and B is used in the second line on the right. Any position that matches one or more digits will be replaced with B.
2. What if you only want to replace 60 and don't want to replace other numbers? You should not use too broad a \d. You can use a more precise lookup instead, or design a more rigorous formula based on the actual format. Determine the matching range before batch replacement.
3. Will the three-digit capital letter formula mistakenly replace other abbreviations? It is possible. [A-Z]{3} matches all 3 consecutive uppercase letters. If there are three abbreviations in the document that you do not want to replace, it will also be affected. Therefore, sample documents should be used for verification before formal processing.
4. What does it mean that the replacement list is empty? The interface prompt "If you don't fill in it, it means delete". If there is no content in a row on the right, the corresponding match may be deleted. The list on the right must be checked during batch processing to avoid missing.
5. When the number of files is large, how to operate more safely? It is recommended to import 1 to 2 representative files for testing, and then import all files for batch processing after confirming that the rules are correct. This avoids affecting too many documents at once.
Summary: Use batch tools to change repeated replacement into one setting
the difficulty in batch replacement of keywords for multiple Word documents lies not in a single replacement action, but in the number of repetitions, scattered content and easy omission of rules. HeSoft Doc Batch Tool Through the "find and replace keywords in Word" function, put multiple docx files into one task, and support the use of formula fuzzy find text.
In this example, users only need to import 6 docx files, select the formula search method, enter [A-Z]{3} and \d, and then set the replacement results A and B to complete batch replacement of English abbreviations and numbers. For office workers who need to deal with a large number of Word, docx and doc documents, it is recommended to use this method for template update, data desensitization, numbering specification and batch content cleaning, thus significantly reducing duplication of work.