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Find and replace

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You must have CONTENTdm administrator rights to edit metadata to access this function. If you do not have these rights, the words Find & Replace will not be hyperlinked on the Items tab.

The Find & Replace function allows collection field metadata to be changed throughout a collection. A CONTENTdm administrator can change all occurrences of a specified term or phrase to a specified replacement term or phrase for a single field or all fields. The function also allows for a single field to be set to a specified value for all fields.

 Caution: Take care when using this function because changes cannot be undone except with another Find & Replace search.

The Find & Replace function does not enable you to change administrative field metadata. Some administrative field properties are system-defined and cannot be edited. Those that can be edited require you to edit them individually using the Project Client or the item editing interfaces in CONTENTdm Administration.

If you are using one of the Find & Replace options, you must choose between two different types of searching:

  • Match whole words (recommended). Search for specific words. CONTENTdm searches for the entire complete word with spaces on either side. Searching for punctuation is not recommended. For instance, finding "and" and replacing it with "or" will yield results of "or". It will ignore the "and" in Alexander and salamander.

  • Match exact string. Search for the exact string. If you are searching for a particular string of characters or punctuation, use this. Caution: Use this option with care because results cannot be undone. When using this option, if you search for "and", CONTENTdm finds all instances of "and", including those within words. For instance, finding "and" and replacing it with "or" will yield expected results of "or" and unexpected results of "alexorer" and "salamorer".

Perform Find & Replace

  1. Open CONTENTdm Administration.
  2. Click the Items tab and then click Find & Replace. The Find and replace Web page opens
  3. Select the type of global changes you wish to make:
    1. Find and replace a single field. Search the selected field and replace specified text with new text.
    2. Find and replace across all fields. Search all fields and replace every instance of specified text with new text.
    3. Change field metadata. Replace all contents of the specified field with new text.

Make changes to a single field

  1. Type the existing metadata that you want to locate in the text box next to Find in the Find and replace a single field section of the page.
  2. From the drop-down list, select the field name you wish to search.
  3. Type the new metadata in the text box next to Replace with.
  4. Choose whether you wish to match whole words or match exact string.
  5. Click Replace. A message displays indicating the number of changes made throughout the collection.
  6. Index the collection to add your changes. To make additional changes, click Find & Replace after building the text index.

Make changes across all fields

  1. In the section of the page labeled Find and replace across all fields, type the existing metadata that you want to locate in the text box next to Find.
  2. Type the new metadata in the text box next to Replace with.

Change field metadata

  1. In the section of the page labeled Change field metadata, use the drop-down list to select the field name whose contents you wish to change.
  2. Type the metadata that you wish to insert into the selected field.
  3. Click Change. A message displays indicating the number of changes made throughout the collection.
  4. Index the collection to add your changes. To make additional changes, click Find & Replace after building the text index.