When multiple Word documents need to replace not fixed words, but the same type of text, you can use regular expression wildcards to complete batch processing. This article HeSoft Doc Batch Tool For example, this topic describes how to import multiple docx files, select a formula to search for text, and use [A-Z]{3} and \d to replace English abbreviations and digital content in batches to help users effectively complete document normalization.
The modification of many office documents is not complicated, but it is very repetitive. For example, there are multiple Word documents in a project folder, and each document contains English abbreviations, numbers, page numbers, course codes, statistics, etc. The real trouble is that these are not exactly the same keywords, but "similarly formatted" text. If you only rely on manual search and replacement, you need to constantly try different keywords, which is very inefficient and easy to miss.
This article introduces a method that is more suitable for batch office scenarios: use HeSoft Doc Batch Tool , in multiple Word, docx files through the regular expression wildcard formula batch to find and replace the same kind of text. In the example, we replace three consecutive capital letters with A and consecutive numbers with B, thus demonstrating how to use a set of rules to process multiple parts of a Word document.
Applicable scenario: what needs to be replaced is a kind of text instead of a word.
In Word document processing, "keyword replacement" is usually divided into two cases. The first is precise substitution, such as replacing "Party A" with "Client" and "2025" with "2026". The second is regular substitution, such as replacing all three uppercase English abbreviations, replacing all consecutive numbers, and replacing numbers that conform to a certain format. This article focuses on the second.
Regular expression wildcards are suitable for the following office scenarios:
- there are different English abbreviations in multiple docx files, which need to be replaced with the specified tags.
- There is a lot of digital content in the document that needs to be uniformly desensitized or replaced with placeholders.
- Course materials, system documents and description documents contain similar codes and need to be standardized in batches.
- New Word files generated from old templates require uniform cleanup of numbering, abbreviations, or special text.
- You need to replace Word content in bulk, but you don't want to open the document one by one and repeat the operation.
HeSoft Doc Batch Tool The positioning is a batch processing tool in office software, and the core value is to help users reduce duplication of work. It is not only processing a single file, but around multiple documents, multiple tasks, unified rules to improve processing efficiency.
Effect Preview: File and Content Status Before Processing
before processing, the example folder contains six Word documents with the file names 1.docx, 2.docx, 3.docx, 4.docx, 5.docx, and 6.docx. This means that this task is not to modify a single Word file, but to apply the same set of replacement rules to multiple documents.
When you open one of the documents, you can see that there are many abbreviations and numbers in the body. For example, BOT in the title, ELA in the body, and the number 60. They are distributed in headings, paragraphs, and list text. If you search one by one manually, it is not only slow, but also requires repeated confirmation.
As can be seen from the screenshots, the document content is not a simple replacement, but multiple, multi-type text needs to be processed. For such cases, using Formula Fuzzy Find Text is more efficient than a normal exact find.
After processing effect: the content conforming to the rules has been uniformly replaced
after completing the batch replacement, check the document again. The original three uppercase English abbreviations have been replaced with A and the consecutive numbers have been replaced with B. The yellow marker shows the position of the replacement, and you can see that the matching content in the title, paragraph, and list has changed.
This effect shows that the software does not just replace a fixed word, but matches the same kind of content according to regular expression rules. For users who need batch cleaning, desensitization and standardization of Word documents, this method is more flexible than entering keywords one by one.
Operation Step 1: Find the Batch Search and Replace Entry in Word Tool
open HeSoft Doc Batch Tool In the navigation pane on the left, select Word Tools ". The main interface will display multiple Word file batch processing functions, including search and replace, paragraph processing, watermark, page layout, image processing, format conversion, etc. This article uses "Find and replace keywords in Word".
The purpose of selecting this function is to let the software enter the Word content replacement process. It should be noted that the keywords in the content of the Word file are processed here, not the file name modification, nor the folder name processing. Therefore, if your goal is to modify the text in the docx body, heading, or paragraph, you should choose this feature.
After entering the function, the software will guide the user to complete the processing step by step, which is suitable for office users who are not familiar with complex batch processing scripts.
Operation step 2: import the Word or docx file to be processed
after entering the function page, the first step is to "select the records to be processed". There are "Add Files" and "Import Files from Folder" buttons in the upper right corner of the interface. The former is suitable for a small number of files, while the latter is suitable for situations where there are multiple Word documents in one folder. In the example, six docx files have been imported. The file name, path, and extension are displayed in the list.
After importing the file, it is recommended to do three checks: first, whether the number of records is correct, and the total number of records in the example is 6; Second, whether the path points to the target folder; Third, whether the extension is in Word format that needs to be processed. The extension in the screenshot is docx, indicating that the new version of Word document is imported.
If you find a file import error, you can delete records that do not need to be processed through the action column, or use "empty" to re-select. After confirming that the file list is correct, click "Next" at the bottom to enter the keyword rule setting.
Operation step 3: use formula fuzzy find text to set rules
in the second step of "setting processing options", the most important thing is to choose the correct search method. The interface displays two options: Find Text Exact and Find Text Using Formula Blur ". If you want to replace fixed text, you can use exact find; if you want to replace a type of regular text, you should select "use formula fuzzy find text".
In this example, the list of keywords to find is filled in with two lines:
- [A-Z]{3}: Matches three consecutive uppercase letters.
- \d: Indicates matching consecutive numbers.
The replaced keyword list also fills in two lines:
- a: Replace the content matched by the first rule accordingly.
- B: Replace the content matched by the second rule accordingly.
In other words, the software will first find all the text that meets [A-Z]{3} in the Word document and replace it with A; Then find all the text that meets \d and replace it with B. Since multiple files are imported, this set of rules is applied to the Word documents in the list in bulk.
Here's an important detail: the left and right side lists correspond by row. The first row of search rules corresponds to the first row of replacement results, and the second row of search rules corresponds to the second row of replacement results. In actual use, if more rules are set, be sure to keep the number of rows and order consistent.
Operation 4: Select the output position and perform processing
after setting up the rules, click Next ". The next steps shown at the top of the process include "Set Save Location" and "Start Processing". In the save location link, it is recommended to save the processed document to a new directory to facilitate comparison with the original Word file. If the rules are set incorrectly, you can always go back to the original file and reprocess it.
When you enter the Start Processing step, the software performs a find replace on the files in the import list one by one. For multiple docx files, users do not need to manually open each document, nor do they need to repeatedly execute the find replace command in Word. Once the processing is complete, just open the output file to check if the key content is as expected.
This batch processing method is especially suitable for administrative, personnel, educational, legal, project management and other positions, because these positions often face a large number of Word documents with similar formats but slightly different contents.
Frequently Asked Questions and Precautions
1. What does [A-Z]{3} match?
It will match three consecutive uppercase English letters. For example, BOT, ELA, this kind of content conforms to the rules. If there are other three capitalized abbreviations in the document, they may also be matched. Therefore, it is recommended to test with a small number of documents before formal processing.
2. Will \d replace all the numbers?
will match consecutive numbers. In other words, as long as the text, number, page number style text is consecutive numbers, may be replaced. Whether it is appropriate to use this rule depends on the content of your document.
3. Is it possible to replace only English abbreviations and not numbers?
You can. Keep [A-Z]{3} on the left side only, and fill in the corresponding replacement content on the right side. Multi-line rules are not required to be used in all, and are set according to actual requirements.
4. Does an empty replacement result mean deletion?
From the interface prompt, "if you don't fill in, it means delete". Therefore, if the right side of a row is empty, the matching content may be deleted. Be sure to check whether the replacement list is missing before batch processing.
5. Why is it recommended to keep the original document?
Regular expressions usually have a wide range of matches, and if the rules are not written accurately enough, they may affect more than expected text. The original Word file is preserved and can be quickly restored after problems are found.
Summary
when multiple Word documents need to replace the "same kind of text" instead of a single fixed word, the regular expression wildcard formula is a very efficient tool. By HeSoft Doc Batch Tool , Users can import multiple docx files, select "Use formula to fuzzy find text", fill in the find rules and replacement results, and then complete batch replacement at once.
If you are working on a large number of Word reports, contracts, course materials or template files, it is recommended to sort out the text rules to be matched before testing the rules with a small number of sample documents. After confirming that the results are correct, batch processing is performed on the entire folder, which can improve efficiency and reduce the risk of miscorrection.