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Participant
April 28, 2019
Answered

Find/change GREP not working now

  • April 28, 2019
  • 2 replies
  • 1987 views

Hi.  I have been using a GREP in the Find/Change dialogue for almost a year and it has worked perfectly.  I work with video scripts and I have to find and remove timestamps (ex. 00:01:53).  I've been using the GREP: [0-9][0-9]:[0-9][0-9]:[0-9][0-9]  or this one has also worked as well: \[[0-9][0-9]:[0-9][0-9]:[0-9][0-9]]

However, now it's not working when I have "Document" selected in the drop down menu (It says "Cannot Find Match").  It only works when I select the text and select "Selection" in the drop-down menu.  And even then, it will only work on a short selection.  If I select text on too many pages (that's flowing through them), it just will say "Cannot Find Match".

Here's what I've tried so far that has NOT WORKED:

    • Deleted all the InDesign preferences
    • Uninstalled and reinstalled InDesign (without saving preferences)
    • Created a new document and input the text (just on page 1) and tried searching it then
    • Downloaded the original text in different formats (i.e. Word, Rich text, simple text, etc.)
    • Tried selecting all the special buttons under the drop-down in the Find/Change dialogue box
    • Tried searching with "Story" selected in the drop-down menu
    • Note: There's nothing in my Find Format area or my Change Format area

So far, nothing I have tried is working and there is no way for me to get rid of these timestamps and I have hundreds of pages of them.  So, one-by-one will take forever.

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2 replies

winterm
Legend
April 28, 2019

If you're on the latest InDesign 14.0.2 Update (CC 2019), Pickory is right, no doubt here.

I just wonder about your posted queries…

While the first surely will work, the second is erroneous.

Why not to use something more simple and straightforward, like (\d\d:){2}\d\d

© Less is more 

PickoryCorrect answer
Legend
April 28, 2019