# Find and Replace

> Finds a word or phrase in a whole module, shows every place with the new text, and replaces it everywhere at once.

Source: https://widgets.doorsnext.com/widgets/find-and-replace/

- Discipline: Content quality
- Works in: IBM DOORS Next module
- Supported products: RM (IBM Engineering Requirements Management DOORS Next (Requirements Management))
- Changes data
- Keywords: find and replace DOORS Next, replace text in requirements, bulk text replace, rename term in module, global replace, search and replace requirements, DOORS Next bulk edit
- Version: 2.8 (Released 2026-10-27)
- Vendor: SmarterProcess (https://doorsnext.com, info@smarterprocess.pl)
- Workflow: 1. Type what to find and what to put instead → 2. Search the module and show every place → 3. Check the list and confirm (If needed: Only some: select them and use Selection) → 4. Text replaced in all of them → 5. Change report in Excel

## What it is and why it exists
A product name changes, a term is renamed, a placeholder such as "TBD" finally gets its value, or an old unit has to go. In a specification of hundreds of requirements the same text has to change in many artifacts at once.

DOORS Next can only edit one artifact at a time. Find and Replace searches a whole module or a selection, shows every place where the text is and how it will read, and replaces it everywhere after one confirmation. Only the visible text changes: formatting, links, pictures and tables stay as they are.

## Problems it solves
- Opening hundreds of artifacts one by one to change the same word or phrase.
- Missed places: an old term that stays in a few requirements nobody found.
- Bulk changes that break formatting or links because the stored text was edited blindly.
- No record of what a bulk change did, and no easy way back.

## Benefits
- **See before you change:** every artifact with the text, and for each place the old text struck through and the new text after it.
- **Exact matches:** Match case and Whole words only, so "pump" does not change "pumps" or "Pump" unless you want it to.
- **Formatting stays:** bold, lists, links and pictures are kept; only the text you are looking for changes.
- **Names too:** search the artifact names as well as the primary text, if you choose.
- **Whole modules in one run,** without the 200-artifact limit of selections, and an Excel change report with every text before and after.

## How to use
1. In **Settings** (click **Change** when it is folded), type the text in **Find what** and the new text in **Replace with** (leave it empty to remove the text). Choose **Match case**, **Whole words only** and where to search: **Primary text**, **Name** or both. **Done** folds Settings to one line.
2. Open a module, choose **Whole module** under **Replace** and click **Find**. The result shows how many artifacts have the text and how many times; open a row to see each place with the old text struck through and the new text after it.
3. Click **Replace**, read the confirmation and click **Replace in N artifacts**. A progress card shows the run, and you can **Stop** at any moment. Click **Log** in the result to download the change report.
4. To change only some artifacts, select them in DOORS Next and choose **Selection · N**: the widget searches them at once. Click **Replace** and confirm.

## Good to know
- Run Find and Replace in a change set, so you can discard the change set if the result is not what you wanted.
- The text is found exactly as typed, spaces included; there are no wildcards. A space also finds a non-breaking space.
- A text split by formatting (part of a word in bold) is not replaced; the search counts such places so you can fix them by hand.
- Pictures and other files keep their content; only their name changes when Name is chosen.
- On the whole module, **Replace** also works without a search first: every artifact is read and the text is replaced where it is; the numbers are known at the end.
- On very large modules the browser can get slow. **Stop** the run, reload the page and open the module again: **Continue from …** goes on from where it stopped, with the same settings.