Replace text with same text

[P***@adobeforums.com]

Hi there. This is my first time on this forum so I hope anyone can help me. I've got a big list of names in Indesign, of which I want the initials to be like (A.). They're now without dots, so (A).

I know I can easily find any character by using '(^?)', but how can I replace it with the same text and add a dot to it? I know that in Word you replace it by '(^&)', or '(^&.)' if you want to add a point. Can anyone tell me the right symbol to use? I would very much appreciate not to adjust 1258 names manually... :)

Bye

[K***@adobeforums.com]

How about you search for "A " (case sensitive) and replace with "A. ", then
repeat for B, C, etc.?

I too have been wondering why ID doesn't have a "Find What Text". When I run
into something like this I usually export the text to Tagged Text and work
on it in NoteTab or some other text processor that can do Regular
Expressions.

Ken Benson

[P***@adobeforums.com]

Nope. What would happen if I'd search and replace A with A. in the following example: Mr. (ABC) Antony. It would be Mr. (A.BC) A.ntony, and I'd have to change all the names manually anyway. I succeeded in doing it by using Word and Excel and a lot of copying and pasting, but if anyone has better ideas for the future, I'd be more than anxious to know... Thanks for your thoughts anyway.

[unknown]

What about "A "

Note the space after the A. Replace it with "A. "

Bob

[K***@adobeforums.com]

Post by P***@adobeforums.com
but if anyone has better ideas for the future, I'd be more than anxious to

know...


I thought my ideas were pretty good. If 27 individual Find/Replaces are too
much, then export to Tagged Text and use a more powerful Find/Replace. You
can even take the Tagged Text back to Word, do the Find/Replaces there, save
back to text, and then Place the text back into Indesign, although Word's
idea of saving to text has some annoying "features" (changing curly quotes
to generics, dashes to hyphens).

Ken Benson

[P***@adobeforums.com]

You missed the space after the "A" in Ken's post. Search for "A[space]" and replace with "A.[space]"

Peter

[P***@adobeforums.com]

Well, that's a first. I actually posted before Bob finished typing. :D

[unknown]

I slow down a bit on the weekends. <g>

Bob

[S***@adobeforums.com]

Make a nul Character Style with no formatting. Search for "(^>)". Leave the Replace text empty, and change the replace formatting to the previously created Character Style. Change All. Next, search for ")" in that Character Style and replace with ").".

[D***@adobeforums.com]

Hi Scott. What's ^> search for? And I think Paul used parentheses just to make the text strings clear - they aren't actually in the file - so you'd have to amend your search to include the space or tab or whatever it is that separates the initial from the surname or another initial.