Skip to main content
dzgnr89
dzgnr89
Inspiring
December 21, 2019
Question

Use find and replace only on specific pages?

  • December 21, 2019
  • 5 replies
  • 5057 views

Is there any way to use find/changeonly on certain pages? Let's say I have a 100 page document and I want to perform find/change or GREP type find/change on pages from 76 to 89. Any way to do that?

    This topic has been closed for replies.

    5 replies

    L
    Community Expert
    LaubenderCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    July 22, 2021

    Hi arjun2,

    a script could do it the following way:

     

    [1] Set all frames in the document to locked.

    [2] Unlock all frame on the pages or spreads where you like to do GREP Find/Change.

    [3] Do your GREP Find/Change.

    [4] Unlock all frames in the document.

     

    Search the forum or the web.

    There should be some ExtendScript code posted around 10 years ago.

     

    Regards,
    Uwe Laubender

    ( ACP )

    E
    Community Expert
    Eugene TysonCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    July 21, 2021

    If your pages are threaded and you can drag to highlight the text from page 76 to 80 then yes - in the find change dialog box select the option for Selection and it will only find in that particular section.

     

    If all your pages are not threaded and each page is standalone with no threaded text. Then create a new document of the same measurements. And in the original document select the page range you want. In the Pages Panel sub menu select move pages. Select your new document as the target.

     

    Once in the new doc do your find change 

     

    Perform the same steps to return the pages. (Removing previous content)

      G
      Gor5EFE
      Participant
      July 20, 2021

      Is this still not possible in 2021 with InDesign (16.3.2)?

       

      Came across metacharacter called Current Page Number ^N (Text tab) / ~N (Grep tab)...however, I'm not sure how to use it or I actually don't think this does what I would hope it would do. 

       https://helpx.adobe.com/indesign/using/find-change.html

       

      I just want to be able to find and replace on the current page I have selected.

       

      Joel Cherney
      Community Expert
      Joel CherneyCommunity Expert
      Community Expert
      July 20, 2021

      The metacharacters you found are not going to do what you want. They are how you search the document for a page number, not a way to limit searches to a given page.  It is still not possible to limit your search to a range of pages.

       

      There's lots of ways to search; for example, if you had a single story threaded across three pages, you could select all that text with the Text tool and then do your Find/Replace action on the "Selection" choice on the Search dropdown. You can select multiple frames that contain text with the black pointer tool and then select Stories in the Search dropdown. But you can't tell InDesign "only search pages 7 through 10." But if what you want to do is find and replace on a single page, then selecting all the text frames on a single page or spread with the black pointer and choosing "Stories" from the Search dropdown should let you search only the single page or spread. 

       

       

        G
        Gor5EFE
        Participant
        July 21, 2021

        That works. I am able to just click and drag to select all most of the frames on the page...the one issue I am running into is that anchored text frames are included in the selection so I would have to click each frame individually to run the find and replace.

         

        Do you know of a way to also include the anchored text frames into the overall selection? 

         

        Barb Binder
        Community Expert
        Barb BinderCommunity Expert
        Community Expert
        December 21, 2019

        Hi Arjun2:

         

        You could start the Find/Change on page 76 and then just use Change (Change, Change, Change) in lieu of Change All until you get to page 89. Or (way more work), drag those pages to a new file, run the F/Ch with Change All and then drag them back.

         

        ~Barb

        ~Barb at Rocky Mountain Training
        Steve Werner
        Community Expert
        Steve WernerCommunity Expert
        Community Expert
        December 21, 2019

        Probably not, unless someone can write a script to do that. If the text was in a continuous flow in one story, you could make a text selection across the page range, and search the range "Selection". If you were on one spread, you could select multiple stories by searching the range "Stories". You couldn't select in multiple stories on multiple spreads from the InDesign interface.

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