Global Search and Replace for Windows

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Editors’ Review

Download.com staffAugust 26, 2015

This application eases the process of finding and replacing words or phrases in documents, but it suffered from some stability issues in our tests. Global Search and Replace's standard interface won't win any design awards, but it is easy to follow. It allows you to quickly select a directory and search for and/or replace text within its files. You can only narrow the search by specifying file types in the mask field, and the search doesn't include filenames. The process proved fairly speedy overall, but we repeatedly encountered a runtime error trying to restore the program's window when it was minimized. Global Search and Replace expedites the process of replacing text in multiple documents, but it's easily beat by the standard Windows Explorer when it comes to searching.

What’s new in version 2.0

Version 2 has multi-line searches, regular expression search and replace match case searches, and saved search criteria.

Global Search and Replace for Windows

Used Global Search and Replace for Windows?

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Full Specifications

GENERAL

Release: February 9, 2009

Latest update: August 26, 2015

Version: 2.0

OPERATING SYSTEMS

Platform: Windows

Operating System

Windows 2003
Windows 10
Windows Vista
Windows Server
Windows 98
Windows 2000
Windows ME
Windows 95
Windows XP

Additional Requirements: Microsoft .NET Framework 2.0

POPULARITY

Total Downloads: 4,142

Downloads Last Week: 1

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Last Updated

User Reviews

3.5/5

2 User Votes

Strange program
lakechicagoJune 8, 2007
Pros
Seems to work but hard to tell.
Cons
Doesn't even signal when it's done processing your documents and doesn't tell you what it's done to the documents. It just sits there, looking like it's not even working, until you look at your folder and see all the backup files. Then you assume it's finished. Needs work.
Summary
Just Right
YoeyJune 11, 2005
Pros
For a while I have been searching the Web looking for a program that will point to a directory on my computer and search/replace a string of text in many files. <p> <p>The problem is that while there are other programs out there that will do this kind of thing they use regular expressions, etc. 99.9% of the search/replace I do is finding a specific string of text and replacing it. That's what makes this program so cool. <p> <p>I am a Web-developer, and some of the sites that I work on contain hundreds of *.asp, *.html, *.js and *.css files (text). Many times have I been forced to change certain items in the files across the board. While this can be done in my text editor (I use Edit Plus; highly recommended) the problem is that I need to OPEN all of the files first, then search/replace, then close the files. This is a serious pain. Global Search And Replace solved this. Yes, it's small in the grand scheme of things but anything to make my work easier makes me happy.
Cons
Since this product is version 1.0, it's got one notable usability feature that's lacking: You have to type (or copy/paste from elsewhere) the folder path as there is no Browse button. Hopefully in the next version it'll be incorporated.
Summary

Developer’s Description

By Global Search And Replace

Replace a word or a phrase with another word or phrase.

Traverse directories looking for text based files that contain a specific word or phrase and then replacing that word or phrase with another word or phrase. Browse button for selecting directory. Abort button to stop long running searches. Version 2 has multi-line searches, regular expression search and replace match case searches, and saved search criteria.