Possible to do a word search on multiple words at once?

[Jennifer363723128c7r]

I want to be able to do a word search for multiple words at once in a single file in InDesign.

Right now, the only way I know how is doing one word at a time using cmd+F. 

Is it possible to scan a file for multiple words? It would save me a great deal of time. Any workarounds are welcome if this feature doesn't exist.

[m1b · Accepted solution]

Hi @Jennifer363723128c7r, yes it is possible!

1. Go to Find Grep ("GREP" is next to "Text" in the normal Find dialog box).

2. Enter this grep:

\b(apple|orange|pear)\b

This will find "apple" OR "orange" OR "pear". The bar character "|" means OR in grep. I put the three options in parentheses to group them, and I put \b at the start and finish so that it will match at word boundaries—to ensure it finds exactly those words, eg. it won't match "pear" in "pears" or "pearing".

There are many more possibilities with grep, eg. if your grep is pears? then the ? means it will match zero or one "s", so it will match "pear" or "pears".

- Mark

[Jennifer363723128c7r]

This is exactly what I was looking for. Thank you for helping me out here - appreciate it!!

[m1b]

You're welcome!

[Robert at ID-Tasker]

@Jennifer363723128c7r

If you work on a PC you could use my ID-Tasker tool for free for that. 

You can use GREP suggestion - but you'll get a list of all found results - and you can browse this list - instead of just going through them one-by-one like when you use Ctrl+F. 

Each result is clickable and you can sort and filter results. 

Sorry, just noticed that you are working on a Mac.