When there are a large number of similar keywords, numbers and abbreviations in multiple Word, docx or doc documents that need to be replaced in a unified way, opening the files one by one to manually find and replace is not only time-consuming, but also easy to miss. This article HeSoft Doc Batch Tool As an example, it demonstrates how to use formula fuzzy search, that is, regular expression wildcard rules, to batch search and replace the contents of multiple Word files. By setting the search rules and replacement content at one time, the eligible text can be uniformly replaced with the specified results, which is suitable for scenarios such as data cleaning, template revision, document standardization, etc.
In daily office, many people will encounter such a situation: there are dozens or even hundreds of Word documents in a folder, and each document contains some keywords, English abbreviations, numbers, years, amounts or codes that need to be modified uniformly. If it is only a word, it can be done with Word's own search and replacement. However, if you want to replace a type of content, such as all consecutive capital letters, all numbers, and some numbering format, manual processing will be very inefficient.
The problem to be solved in this article is: how to use the regular expression wildcard formula to batch replace many keywords in Word. Here HeSoft Doc Batch Tool As an example, the demo uses a formula to search for text in multiple docx files, and replaces the content that meets the rules with the specified text in batches. The example in the screenshot is to replace the content in the Word text that conforms to the capital letter rule with A and the digital content with B. Although the number of sample files is 6, the same applies to batch processing of more doc and docx documents.
Application scenario: Which Word content is suitable for batch replacement with regular expressions
Ordinary keyword substitution is suitable for dealing with clear fixed text, such as replacing the old name of a company with a new name, and changing a product name to a new way of writing. But in the actual office, a lot of content is not a fixed word, but a class of text with common rules, then it is more suitable to use regular expressions or wildcard formulas.
1. Batch replacement number, number, year and other variable content
For example, there may be a large number of numbers in contracts, course materials, training manuals, and project documents. They may be number of class hours, page number, number, amount, percentage, etc. If you want to replace all consecutive numbers with a placeholder, using the formula \d is more efficient than entering the numbers one by one.
2. Batch replace English abbreviations or codes
The Word example in the screenshot contains uppercase abbreviations such as BOT, ELA, etc. If you need to treat all three uppercase abbreviations uniformly, you can use a rule matching like [A-Z]{3}. In this way, multiple different abbreviations can be covered without entering BOT, ELA, BUD, etc. one by one.
3. Batch clean the placeholder content in the template document.
Placeholders in fixed formats, such as ABC, 2026, and No.001, are used in many enterprise internal templates, course materials, and project specifications. Using regular expression wildcard formulas, you can quickly replace these formatted content with new, unified text, reducing duplication of effort.
4. Batch process multiple docx and doc files.
If there is only one Word file, manual replacement is acceptable. However, if there are a batch of Word documents, such as 1.docx to 6.docx in the screenshot, the process is very repetitive to open, find, replace and save one by one. The batch processing capability of office software can concentrate these steps into one task, improve efficiency and reduce the probability of missing changes.
Effect Preview: What Changes Before and After Processing
Before processing: multiple Word files need to replace the content uniformly
Before processing, there are several Word documents in the folder, examples include 1.docx, 2.docx, 3.docx, 4.docx, 5.docx, 6.docx. These docx files all need to implement the same kind of keyword substitution rules.
Open one of the Word documents and you can see that there are English abbreviations and digital content that need to be processed in the body. For example, BOT appears in the title and ELA, 60 and other contents appear in the text. The red arrows mark the text positions that need to be matched by the rule.
If processed in the traditional way, you need to open each Word file, search for BOT, ELA, 60 and other contents in the document, and then replace them separately. The problem is that abbreviations and numbers in different files may not be exactly the same, and it is very easy to miss all keywords manually.
After processing: text that meets the rules is replaced in bulk
When processing is complete, the content in the document that matches the formula rules has been replaced. As can be seen in the screenshot, the content that originally conforms to the three-digit capital letter rule is replaced with A, and the content that originally conforms to the number rule is replaced with B. Yellow highlight is used to show the changed position after replacement, which is convenient to check the effect.
In effect, the substitution is not only for a fixed word, but for a class of text that satisfies the rules. For example, [A-Z]{3} can match three consecutive uppercase letters, and \d can match consecutive numbers. Therefore, it is suitable for batch processing of a large number of regular content in Word documents.
Operation steps: HeSoft Doc Batch Tool Batch Replace Word Keywords
The following is a description of the complete operation process in the order of screenshots. The core idea is: first enter the search and replace function in Word tool, then import the files to be processed, then select the formula to find the text, and finally fill in the search rules and replace the content.
Step 1: Enter the Word tool and select the Find Replace function
Open HeSoft Doc Batch Tool After that, select Word Tools in the left ribbon. In the main interface, you can see many batch processing functions related to Word documents, such as adding watermarks, modifying font paragraph format, exporting pictures, converting Word to PDF, etc. This time, the first function is to be used: find and replace keywords in Word.
The purpose of this step is to enter the task page dedicated to finding and replacing Word content in batches. Different from Word's own functions, instead of processing only one currently opened document, the replacement task is performed uniformly for multiple Word files.
Step 2: Add Word files that need to be processed
After entering the find and replace keywords page in Word, buttons such as add files, import files from folders, empty, and more can be seen at the top of the interface. In the example, six docx files have been imported. The file list displays the serial number, name, path, extension, creation time, and modification time.
If the number of files is small, you can use add files to select one by one; if a folder is full of Word documents to be processed, you can use import files from the folder, which is more suitable for batch tasks. After importing, we recommend that you check the file list to make sure that all the docx or doc files that need to be processed appear in the list.
The expected result of this step is that all pending files enter the task list and the number of records is displayed at the bottom of the page. The total number of records summarized in the screenshot is 6, indicating that the same keyword replacement rules will be implemented for 6 Word documents this time.
Step 3: Go to Settings Processing Options
After confirming that the file list is correct, click Next at the bottom of the page to enter the setting processing options. The process progress at the top of the interface goes from selecting the records that need to be processed to setting the processing options. This process design can help users know where the current task is and avoid starting processing directly without setting rules.
Step 4: Select Use Formula to Fuzzy Find Text
In the Set keyword option, Find by provides exact find text and fuzzy find text using formulas. Since this article is dealing with a class of content that conforms to the law, rather than a single fixed keyword, you need to choose to use formula fuzzy search text.
The formula fuzzy lookup here can be understood as using regular expression wildcard rules. After this method is selected, enter the keyword list to be searched on the left and the replaced keyword list on the right. The software will replace the corresponding lines on the left and right sides.
Step 5: Fill in the regular expression wildcard formula and replace the content.
In the screenshot, the list of keywords to be found on the left is filled with two lines of rules:
- Line 1:[A-Z]{3}
- Line 2:\d
The list of replaced keywords on the right is also filled with two lines:
- Line 1: A
- Line 2: B
This means that the software will replace the content that matches the rule on line 1 [A-Z]{3} with A, and the content that matches the rule on line 2 \d with B. The line numbers on the left and right sides should be one-to-one, otherwise the replacement content may not meet expectations.
[A-Z]{3} means to match three consecutive uppercase English letters, such as BOT and ELA. \d means to match consecutive numbers, such as 60, 2, and 5. In this way, users do not need to know in advance which specific abbreviations or numbers are in the document, as long as they conform to the rules, they can be processed in batches.
Step 6: Continue to set the save location and start processing
When you have finished setting up the find rules and replace content, click Next. According to the interface process, the following steps will be entered to set the save location and start processing. Since the names of these two steps can be seen in the screenshot, the actual operation should be prompted to select the save location of the processed file, and then start the batch processing task.
It is recommended to keep a backup of the original files before batch replacement, or save the processing results to a new folder. In this way, even if the regular expression rules are set improperly, you can return to the original file and readjust it to avoid directly overwriting important documents.
Frequently Asked Questions and Precautions
1. Regular expression rules should be tested in a small range first.
The advantage of regular expressions is that they have a wide range of matches, but because of this, if the rules are written too widely, they may replace what should not be replaced. For example, [A-Z]{3} will match all three consecutive uppercase letters, and may be replaced as long as similar formatting exists in the document. Therefore, it is recommended to test with a small number of Word files first, and then batch process all files after confirming the effect.
2. The left and right lists should be corresponding by line.
Find and replace lists correspond on a row-by-row basis. The first row search rule corresponds to the first row replacement content, and the second row search rule corresponds to the second row replacement content. If there are two rows on the left and only one row on the right, some rules may not replace values or the results may not meet expectations.
3. Pay attention to the case matching option
In the interface, you can see that there are additional options to ignore the case of letters. For [A-Z]{3} rules that explicitly match uppercase letters, the actual match range may be affected if the case-related option is checked or unchecked. When dealing with English abbreviations, it is recommended to decide whether to ignore case according to actual needs.
4. Both doc and docx files should be checked for compatibility.
The example file extension in the screenshot is docx. If the actual task contains the old version of the doc file, we recommend that you use a small number of files to verify the processing effect. Different versions of Word documents may have differences in format, compatibility, and content structure. Checking before batch processing can reduce risks.
5. Don't write too many complex rules at once.
If there are many rules to be replaced, it is recommended to set and process them in batches. Deal with the most explicit and least risky rules first, and then deal with complex rules. This is easy to locate the problem, and it is also easier to check whether the processed Word content meets expectations.
Summary: Use Formula Fuzzy Search to Improve Word Batch Replacement Efficiency
Using regular expression wildcard formula to replace Word keywords in batches, the greatest value lies in the repeated, mechanical, error-prone manual operation to the office software to complete. For regular content such as English abbreviations, number numbers, template placeholders, etc. in multiple docx and doc documents, HeSoft Doc Batch Tool You can import files once, set rules once, and execute them in batches to complete the work that you originally needed to open files repeatedly.
If you are working on a large number of Word documents and the content that needs to be replaced has obvious rules, you can give priority to trying to use formulas to find text. It is recommended to prepare a backup file first, then follow the steps in this article to import the file, set [A-Z]{3}, \d and other rules, and check the results. After confirming that it is correct, all documents are processed in batches, which can not only improve efficiency, but also ensure replacement quality.