Skip to main content
M
M-Z-Jay
Known Participant
September 21, 2020
Answered

Illustrator multiple find & replace and spell checks run as script

  • September 21, 2020
  • 2 replies
  • 600 views

Hello hive mind, I have a bit of a strange question for you all. I predominantly create graphics for proposal documents and at the end of each bid I have to go through all of the graphics and do consistency checks for words like 'Occupant' 'Contract' 'Client' etc and make sure that they all start with a capital letter. I also have to check that things like ISO numbers are consistently written in the same format and sometimes words like materiel/material are spelt correctly. All of these checks take a lot of time using the spell checker/find and replace, as I need to keep on typing in the things I am checking for each graphic. Sometimes I can have in excess of 200 graphics to check. I was wondering if there was some way I could set up a script or some sort of automation so that I can run the same set of checks over multiple documents?

 

This topic has been closed for replies.
Correct answer Mylenium

Should not be all that difficult using regular expressions (regex) inside a script. In case of AI you may just need to write a ton of extra code around it to actually grab each individual text object and have it analyzed just like inside the actual check functions you may need quite a bit of branching and extra safeguards so certain stuff does not get accidentally reformatted. Again, not impossible in my view, but more than a three line script so you might want to look around and hire an experienced developer on a paid basis to create a custom script for your needs if you can't find something that may already exist on the web.

 

Mylenium

2 replies

Charu Rajput
Community Expert
Charu RajputCommunity Expert
Community Expert
September 21, 2020

Hi,

You can read following thread

https://community.adobe.com/t5/illustrator/find-and-replace-script-for-multiple-files/td-p/7825453?page=1

Best regards
    M
    M-Z-JayAuthor
    Known Participant
    September 23, 2020

    Thanks for the information, this isn't quite what I want. I'm happy to open the files one at a time (some of my graphics will not make it to the final document), it's more the multiple find and replace terms that is causing me problems. I've tried recording an action, but each time the find and replace runs it only uses the last search phrases rather than the ones that were entered while recording the action.

    Mylenium
    MyleniumCorrect answer
    Legend
    September 21, 2020

    Should not be all that difficult using regular expressions (regex) inside a script. In case of AI you may just need to write a ton of extra code around it to actually grab each individual text object and have it analyzed just like inside the actual check functions you may need quite a bit of branching and extra safeguards so certain stuff does not get accidentally reformatted. Again, not impossible in my view, but more than a three line script so you might want to look around and hire an experienced developer on a paid basis to create a custom script for your needs if you can't find something that may already exist on the web.

     

    Mylenium

    M
    M-Z-JayAuthor
    Known Participant
    September 21, 2020

    Wow, that was a quick response. I thought I knew Illustrator pretty well but have to admit that some of your answer doesn't make sense to me at all. However, I now know what I need to be looking for, which is a massive help. Thanks Mylenium.

    Terms & ConditionsAccessibility statement
    Using the community Terms of use Privacy Cookie preferences Do not sell or share my personal information ad choicesAdChoices