Replace report
Every occurrence a replace would change
Find and Replace, with the replace switched off. It searches live sites and libraries for your term and reports every occurrence it would change, in documents and in item field values, without writing anything. This is the run you do first when a domain changes, a server is renamed, or a company is rebranded.
What it tells you
- Every file and item containing your search term, with which part of it matched (file content or a field) and how many times.
- How many occurrences there are and how far they spread, before you commit to changing any of them.
- Which files could not be searched, including password-protected ones whose password you have not supplied.
How it runs
- Open Replace and choose Preview. The Replace tile leads to the same flow. Preview is a mode of it, not a separate engine; Apply runs the same search again and writes what it finds then.
- Sign in and pick a scope. Clicking the tile asks which account to use and how to connect, signs you in if you are not already, and drops you straight on the site list. No feature page asks you to connect a second time.
- Enter the search term. Plain text or a pattern. Nothing is written, so a term you are unsure about costs nothing to try.
- Read the report. A CSV file: one row per matched file or item, with its path, what matched, status, occurrence count and any error. Then run the same scope again with Apply, once you are satisfied with the list.
How it works
Preview runs the same engine as Apply with writing switched off, so what it lists is what Apply would change. It searches document contents, classic .aspx pages, the text of modern pages, and text column values. Inside documents it reads Word, Excel and PowerPoint files (.docx, .xlsx, .pptx), older Excel workbooks (.xls) and plain text formats (.txt, .aspx, .html, .htm, .xml, .css). Other file types, such as PDF and older Word files, are not opened and do not appear in the report.
Column values are searched in the single and multiple line text columns of the chosen list, or of every visible list on the site. Hyperlink, hidden, read-only and calculated columns are left out, as are system fields such as the file name, content type, author and dates.
Each rule is plain text, a wildcard pattern or a regular expression, and matches regardless of case unless the rule says otherwise. Rules run in order, each on the result of the one before. The count for a file or field is the total of every rule's matches.
A password-protected Word, Excel or PowerPoint file is searched when your password list holds its password; otherwise it is listed as an error saying to add it. A file that fails becomes an error row and the run continues, and each location is handled separately. The report is a CSV file giving the path, the area, the status, the number of occurrences and any error; files with no match are counted in a header line rather than listed. It goes into History when the run ends.
What you need
- Read access to the sites and libraries in scope. The report writes nothing.
- An actual replace, later, needs write access.
What it will not do
- A password-protected Word, Excel or PowerPoint file is searched only when your imported password worksheet holds its password; otherwise it is listed as an error. Find password-protected files, on the same menu, produces that worksheet.
- Only file types Find & Replace can edit are searched. Other files, such as PDFs, are left out without a row in the report.
- Searching inside documents means opening them, so a wide scope takes time.
- The report reflects the site as it was when the scan ran. Re-run it if there is a long gap before you act.