find and replace text wont work on long text

[Lital2252941669o3]

Hello

i have a psd file with about 40 artboards which are the same graphics/layers but in difrrent sizes

and i want the ability to change a pargraph across all artboards

but for some reason when even i try to paste a long paragraph into the "find and replace text" window, it wont paste it at all and leave the field empty.

i searched everywhere and didnt find that there are limitations to number of characters in this field

so what is the problem? and is there a fix?

i atached a sample psd file

and this is a demo for long text that wont paste instead of the legal text in the attached psd file:

"this is a long demo text that i cant seem to actully paste into find and replace tool in photoshop and this just ruins my intire process for building banners grid, which i have to be able to do in order to create grid for many banners who i need to produce"

thank you

lital

[Bojan Živković]

No problem on my side. I am on Windows running 24.4.1 Photoshop. Wait someone with Mac to confirm. What is your Ps version by the way? And if you can change font to something that everyone have installed like Arial to skip trouble replacing text and missing Glyphs.

[ktaki · Accepted solution]

The maximum number allowed in the "Find What" and "Change To" fields is 255 characters. The difference in behaviors of Mac and Windows is that on Windows text can be pasted up to 255 characters then the rest will be truncated while on Mac it does not allow pasting any text when you try to paste text that has more than 255 characters.

[Lital2252941669o3]

thanks for your reply

i'm using 

Adobe Photoshop Version: 23.5.5 ME version

Operating System: Mac OS 12.6.4 

i also tried it on photoshop 2023 on another mac and it still didnt work

and i uploaded the file with arial font as requested (:

[Bojan Živković]

Does not work with less then 255 characters (including spaces I guess)?

[ktaki]

Yes, including spaces.

[Lital2252941669o3]

thank you all

i wanted to ask if its possible to change it with a script and then got the answer from @Stephen Marsh 

so hopefully you can help me write a script to input what ever long text needed so i could preduce the 100 difrrent banners i need

thank you all again

[Stephen Marsh]

As @ktaki informs us that this is a GUI limitation, we can do away with the native GUI:

Select one of the "put the legal text here" text layers, then run this script:

#target photoshop

var findText = "put the legal text here";

var replaceText = "this is a long demo text that i cant seem to actully paste into find and replace tool in photoshop and this just ruins my intire process for building banners grid, which i have to be able to do in order to create grid for many banners who i need to produce";

var idreplace = stringIDToTypeID("replace");
    var desc483 = new ActionDescriptor();
    var idnull = stringIDToTypeID( "null" );
        var ref135 = new ActionReference();
        var idproperty = stringIDToTypeID( "property" );
        var idreplace = stringIDToTypeID( "replace" );
        ref135.putProperty( idproperty, idreplace );
        var idtextLayer = stringIDToTypeID( "textLayer" );
        var idordinal = stringIDToTypeID( "ordinal" );
        var idallEnum = stringIDToTypeID( "allEnum" );
        ref135.putEnumerated( idtextLayer, idordinal, idallEnum );
    desc483.putReference( idnull, ref135 );
    var idusing = stringIDToTypeID( "using" );
        var desc484 = new ActionDescriptor();
        var idfind = stringIDToTypeID( "find" );
        desc484.putString( idfind, findText );
        var idreplace = stringIDToTypeID( "replace" );
        desc484.putString( idreplace, replaceText );
        var idcheckAll = stringIDToTypeID( "checkAll" );
        desc484.putBoolean( idcheckAll, true );
        var idforward = stringIDToTypeID( "forward" );
        desc484.putBoolean( idforward, true );
        var idcaseSensitive = stringIDToTypeID( "caseSensitive" );
        desc484.putBoolean( idcaseSensitive, false );
        var idwholeWord = stringIDToTypeID( "wholeWord" );
        desc484.putBoolean( idwholeWord, false );
        var idignoreAccents = stringIDToTypeID( "ignoreAccents" );
        desc484.putBoolean( idignoreAccents, true );
    var idfindReplace = stringIDToTypeID( "findReplace" );
    desc483.putObject( idusing, idfindReplace, desc484 );
executeAction( idreplace, desc483, DialogModes.NO );
app.beep();

For a very quick GUI, you could replace the first two static variable lines with prompts, such as:

var findText = prompt("Find text:", "put the legal text here");

var replaceText = prompt("Replace text:", "this is a long demo text that i cant seem to actully paste into find and replace tool in photoshop and this just ruins my intire process for building banners grid, which i have to be able to do in order to create grid for many banners who i need to produce");

https://prepression.blogspot.com/2017/11/downloading-and-installing-adobe-scripts.html

[Lital2252941669o3]

thank you but i tried the script and got an error

[Stephen Marsh]

@Lital2252941669o3 

You didn't read my blogpost carefully enough, you saved the code as an RTF (rich text format) – not as a plain text format TXT file.

Mac: Apple TextEdit (ensure that the Format menu is set to Plain Text mode, not Rich Text mode)

---

[Stephen Marsh]

I'm testing on the Mac and was surprised with the results of the backdoor approach of changing DialogModes.NO to DialogModes.ALL – the text string passed from the variable to the GUI wasn't truncated at 255 characters!

[Lital2252941669o3]

im sorry you were right, the script worked. but i need the possibility to input a diffrent paragraph each time (i have 100 diffrent ones for 40 diffrent banner sizes)

is there a way to do this for a panel like the find and replace where i could input text?

[Stephen Marsh]

---

@Lital2252941669o3 wrote:

but i need the possibility to input a diffrent paragraph each time (i have 100 diffrent ones for 40 diffrent banner sizes)

is there a way to do this for a panel like the find and replace where i could input text?

---

You can:

1) Simply update the static text in the script before running it.

2) Or use my second suggestion of changing the first two variables from text strings to prompts.

3) Or... Alternatively, a custom scriptUI dialog could be created, or an entire UXP plugin panel.

EDIT: I have provided a new version using scriptUI!

[Stephen Marsh · Accepted solution]

@Lital2252941669o3 wrote:

but i need the possibility to input a diffrent paragraph each time (i have 100 diffrent ones for 40 diffrent banner sizes)

is there a way to do this for a panel like the find and replace where i could input text?

---

OK, here is a new version using a single scriptUI dialog rather than two separate prompts:

/*
Unlimited Input Find & Replace.jsx
v1.0 - 17th May 2023, Stephen Marsh
https://community.adobe.com/t5/photoshop-ecosystem-discussions/find-and-replace-text-wont-work-on-long-text/td-p/13793461
*/

// Configure the text parameters to pass to the main window function
// Non breaking space character \u00A0 to avoid truncation on Win OS
findReplaceDialog("Find & Replace Interface v1.0", "Find:\u00A0", "Replace (No 255 Character Limit):\u00A0");

// Main function
function findReplaceDialog(promptTitle, promptString, promptString2) {
    try {

        // PROMPT WINDOW
        var promptWindow = new Window("dialog");
        promptWindow.text = promptTitle;
        /*
        var gra = dialog.graphics;
        //var uiBrush = gra.newBrush(gra.BrushType.SOLID_COLOR, [0.3, 0.3, 0.3, 1]);
        var uiBrush = gra.newBrush(gra.BrushType.THEME_COLOR, "appDialogBackground"
        gra.backgroundColor = uiBrush;
        */
        promptWindow.preferredSize.width = 340;
        promptWindow.preferredSize.height = 260;
        promptWindow.orientation = "column";
        promptWindow.alignChildren = ["left", "top"];
        promptWindow.spacing = 15;
        promptWindow.margins = 20;

        // FIELD GROUP
        var fieldGroup = promptWindow.add("group", undefined, {
            name: "fieldGroup"
        });
        fieldGroup.orientation = "column";
        fieldGroup.alignChildren = ["left", "center"];
        fieldGroup.spacing = 5;
        fieldGroup.margins = 0;

        // FIND PROMPT FIELD LABEL
        var promptLabel = fieldGroup.add("statictext", undefined, undefined, {
            name: "promptLabel"
        });
        promptLabel.text = promptString;
        promptLabel.preferredSize.height = 25;
        promptLabel.preferredSize.width = 300;
        // Option - swap undefined for "bold" if required
        promptLabel.graphics.font = ScriptUI.newFont("dialog", undefined, 13);
        /*
        // TEXT COLOR
        promptLabel.graphics.foregroundColor = promptLabel.graphics.newPen(promptLabel.graphics.PenType.SOLID_COLOR, [1, 1, 1], 1);
        */

        // FIND PROMPT FIELD
        var promptField = fieldGroup.add('edittext {properties: {name: "promptField", multiline: true, scrollable: true}}');
        promptField.helpTip = "Find:";
        // Default text
        promptField.text = "";
        //promptField.preferredSize.width = 300;
        promptField.alignment = ["fill","center"];
        promptField.preferredSize.height = 75;
        promptField.active = true;

        // REPLACE PROMPT FIELD LABEL
        var promptLabel2 = fieldGroup.add("statictext", undefined, undefined, {
            name: "promptLabel2"
        });
        promptLabel2.text = promptString2;
        promptLabel2.preferredSize.height = 25;
        promptLabel2.preferredSize.width = 300;
        // Option - swap undefined for "bold" if required
        promptLabel2.graphics.font = ScriptUI.newFont("dialog", undefined, 13);
        /*
        // TEXT COLOR
        promptLabel.graphics.foregroundColor = promptLabel.graphics.newPen(promptLabel.graphics.PenType.SOLID_COLOR, [1, 1, 1], 1);
        */

        // REPLACE PROMPT FIELD
        var promptField2 = fieldGroup.add('edittext {properties: {name: "promptField2", multiline: true, scrollable: true}}');
        promptField2.helpTip = "Replace:";
        // Default text
        promptField2.text = "";
        //promptField2.preferredSize.width = 300;
        promptField2.alignment = ["fill","center"];
        promptField2.preferredSize.height = 75;

        // BUTTON GROUP
        var buttonGroup = promptWindow.add("group", undefined, {
            name: "buttonGroup"
        });
        buttonGroup.orientation = "row";
        buttonGroup.alignChildren = ["left", "top"];
        buttonGroup.spacing = 0;
        buttonGroup.margins = 0;

        // CANCEL BUTTON
        var cancelButton = buttonGroup.add("button", undefined, undefined, {
            name: "cancelButton"
        });
        cancelButton.text = "Cancel";
        cancelButton.justify = "left";

        // OK BUTTON
        var okButton = buttonGroup.add("button", undefined, undefined, {
            name: "okButton"
        });
        okButton.text = "OK";
        okButton.justify = "left";

        // RENDER THE WINDOW & OK BUTTON ACTION
        if (promptWindow.show() === 1 && (promptField.text !== "") && (promptField2.text !== "")) {
            // Code to run on OK
            findReplaceText();
        } else {
            //app.beep();
            //alert("Script cancelled!");
        }

        // FUNCTION TO RUN WHEN THE OK BUTTON IS PRESSED
        function findReplaceText() {
            var s2t = function (s) {
                return app.stringIDToTypeID(s);
            };
            var descriptor = new ActionDescriptor();
            var descriptor2 = new ActionDescriptor();
            var reference = new ActionReference();
            reference.putProperty(s2t("property"), s2t("replace"));
            reference.putEnumerated(s2t("textLayer"), s2t("ordinal"), s2t("allEnum"));
            descriptor.putReference(s2t("null"), reference);
            descriptor2.putString(s2t("find"), promptField.text); // Find
            descriptor2.putString(s2t("replace"), promptField2.text); // Replace
            descriptor2.putBoolean(s2t("checkAll"), true);
            descriptor2.putBoolean(s2t("forward"), true);
            descriptor2.putBoolean(s2t("caseSensitive"), false);
            descriptor2.putBoolean(s2t("wholeWord"), false);
            descriptor2.putBoolean(s2t("ignoreAccents"), true);
            descriptor.putObject(s2t("using"), s2t("findReplace"), descriptor2);
            executeAction(s2t("replace"), descriptor, DialogModes.NO);
        }
    
    } catch (err) {
        alert("There was an unexpected error!" + "\r" + err + ' ' + err.line);
    }
}

[Lital2252941669o3]

wowwwwww

thats perfect 

thank you very very very much 

[Stephen Marsh]

You're welecome!

[Lital2252941669o3]

ok so i tried this on the demo file i sent you and it worked perfect

but when i try it on the real file which has 40 artboards and the text is in hebrew

i get an error message:

do you maybe know why this is hapening?

i did this one on the same mac and same photoshop as before

[Stephen Marsh]

It could be related to the English vs. Hebrew text, I don't know...

You could install the ScriptingListener plug-in:

https://helpx.adobe.com/au/photoshop/kb/downloadable-plugins-and-content.html

And use that to capture the find and replace step as JavaScript code.

Then provide the code for me to update.

[Lital2252941669o3]

ok so i tried to install the scriptlistener and it failed (it just didnt do the log file) but than i restart my mac and your script works amazingly now without changing anything

so again thank you very very much

you really helped me

[Stephen Marsh]

@Lital2252941669o3 – Good to know, thanks for the update. I made some minor cosmetic updates to the code, so make sure that you are using the latest version (it wasn't worth renaming as a 1.1 version). Please mark the replies that helped as a correct answer to show that this has been resolved.