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Question: How to find & replace predefined text values for multiple files?

I create duplicates of certain RTFD documents, and I'm trying to figure out the best way to efficiently find and replace three discrete values in a set of duplicated documents (office name, sub-office name, and contact info -- in a paragraph block).


I'd like save various info for these replacement values, so that I can more easily replace them through the find / replace process.


Some colleagues have suggested that this process would involve scripting and/or macros for predefined text values -- and possibly even some use of text blocks.


Any ideas / suggestion for how to to accomplish this while retaining the integrity of the RTFD files(which has specific formatting that I have to retain)? Happy to consider an app or macros/scripting process (though my knowledge of the latter is limited). I also have to be careful that I'm not making an errors in this find / replace process.


Many thanks for your help!

MacBook Pro 15", OS X 10.11

Posted on Apr 19, 2020 8:43 PM

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Apr 20, 2020 4:59 AM in response to GtheG In response to GtheG

The AppleScript scripting dictionary for TextEdit, or Pages v5 thru v10 — does not provide Find/Replace verbs. To preserve the RTFD formatting, the document must be opened in either of those applications, and changeable content manually found and replaced. LibreOffice does not support RTFD documents.

Apr 20, 2020 4:59 AM

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Question marked as Helpful

Apr 20, 2020 4:59 AM in response to GtheG In response to GtheG

The AppleScript scripting dictionary for TextEdit, or Pages v5 thru v10 — does not provide Find/Replace verbs. To preserve the RTFD formatting, the document must be opened in either of those applications, and changeable content manually found and replaced. LibreOffice does not support RTFD documents.

Apr 20, 2020 4:59 AM

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Apr 20, 2020 8:02 AM in response to Luis Sequeira1 In response to Luis Sequeira1


Thank you both for all of your help. I think that article comes close to what I'm aiming to do, and I've tried running the movie embedded in the article to be sure it aligns with what I'm aiming to do. Unfortunately, that movie isn't work. Any idea on how I contact the author to get a working version of that movie? Thanks so much for both of your help!

Apr 20, 2020 8:02 AM

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Apr 20, 2020 8:07 AM in response to Luis Sequeira1 In response to Luis Sequeira1

Also, just to underscore one point, I'm aiming to apply the process I've outline for multiple files -- and also for RTFD files.


While I think the process outlined in the article you posted looks useful, it looks like it can only be applied to one file at a time, correct? Thank you again...

Apr 20, 2020 8:07 AM

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Question: How to find & replace predefined text values for multiple files?