• Home
  • Training Books
  • Subscribe to Our Email Newsletter
  • About
    • Contributors
    • Feedback
    • Contact
    • Privacy policy
    • Cookie Policy

CADnotes

CAD Tutorials and Best Practices for professionals and students

  • Featured
  • AutoCAD
    • AutoLISP
  • Revit
    • Revit Architecture Basic
    • Revit MEP Basic Tutorial
  • Inventor
  • MicroStation
    • MicroStation Basic Tutorial
You are here: Home / AutoCAD / How to find and replace text in AutoCAD

How to find and replace text in AutoCAD

October 17, 2011 by Edwin Prakoso 19 Comments

I had a question last week, asking if there is any AutoLISP program to find a specific text and replace it with another text. I decided to answer the question by publishing this article, instead of replying the email. So more people can read the answer.

You don’t need AutoLISP to do that. If you go to annotate tab, in text panel, you can find a small search box. That’s probably why it’s not so easy to find.

search

We just need to type the word or phrase we want to find, then press enter.

You will see AutoCAD open search dialog box. AutoCAD will also zoom to first text it find.

Tips: you can open ‘find and replace dialog box’ by typing FIND [enter] in command line

find and replace

Type what text you want to replace with then click replace. You can limit your searches to current space (model or layout), selected objects, or entire drawing.

More find options

Click more options button to expand the find dialog box. You can refine your search further by using these options.

advanced options

Yes, it can find text in blocks or xref too. But it can’t find value in fields. I think it will be great to find values in field to, because sometimes we need to review fields values.

For additional information, we also have spell checker in AutoCAD.

check spelling

It works almost the same with find and replace text, only here, we compare it to AutoCAD dictionary.

About Edwin Prakoso

I work as a Sr. Consultant in PT Cipta Satria Informatika. I've been using AutoCAD since R14 and Revit since Revit Building 9. I occasionally write for AUGIWorld magazine and I am also active in Autodesk discussion forum. I'm a member of Autodesk Expert Elite, an appreciation for individuals who give contributions to the Autodesk community.
Connect with me on twitter or LinkedIn.

Filed Under: AutoCAD Tagged With: AutoCAD search, autocad tips

0 0 votes
Article Rating
Subscribe
Login
Notify of
guest

guest

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

19 Comments
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
Mike Gordy
Mike Gordy
9 years ago

Is there a way to create a macro button that will automatically replace a string of text when selected with another string of text?

0
Reply
Edwin Prakoso
Edwin Prakoso
Author
Reply to  Mike Gordy
9 years ago

Maybe you can try Batch Find and Replace here?

0
Reply
Tim
Tim
9 years ago

Thanks for the advice on how to find-and-replace text. Your posting just saved me a lot of time.

0
Reply
PMarques
PMarques
9 years ago

Very useful. Thank you very much for the information

0
Reply
Hgl
Hgl
9 years ago

Thanks a lot. Very useful!

0
Reply
majidjahanshiri
majidjahanshiri
10 years ago

thanks edwin so much

0
Reply
hung
hung
10 years ago

great! thanks a lot, Edwin.

0
Reply
Lana
Lana
10 years ago

Edwin,
I need to find a MText 2 words on separate lines. Any advise?

0
Reply
Thomas
Thomas
10 years ago

I need to find text and then add a revision cloud where that next is. Do you know of a way to not have to exit and restart the find and replace tool each time to edit the drawing?

0
Reply
Edwin Prakoso
Edwin Prakoso
Author
Reply to  Thomas
10 years ago

Unfortunately, there’s no option to do that.

0
Reply
Ewen @CADfindREPLACE
Ewen @CADfindREPLACE
Reply to  Thomas
9 years ago

Adding a Revision cloud around searched text is something you could solve in code but there is no native way to do it. As for closing the window each time you find the next one, I know that pain only too well. I am in the process of fixing that. Have a look at http://www.CADfindREPLACE.com – I hope to release it by the end of the year. Join in the conversation there and we will fix this thing.

0
Reply
stella kibet
stella kibet
12 years ago

Thanks so much.

0
Reply
Matthew Alder
Matthew Alder
13 years ago

Find does not work with fields?

0
Reply
1 2 Next »
wpdiscuz   wpDiscuz

Featured

3 Things Orient to View in Revit can do for you

Revit orent to view tool might be overlooked. But it can be very helpful to help you work with large and complex models. Here are 3 benefits that you can get right now.

Recent Articles

  • Autodesk Construction Cloud Activity Log
  • Exporting AutoCAD Plant 3D Model to Navisworks
  • Autodesk Data Connector for Power BI is Now Available

Advertisement

New on CADnotes

  • Autodesk Construction Cloud Activity Log
  • Exporting AutoCAD Plant 3D Model to Navisworks
  • Autodesk Data Connector for Power BI is Now Available
  • Autodesk Forma Design Contest
  • Revit 2025: Toposolid Enhancements

Meet the Authors

avatar for
avatar for
avatar for
avatar for
avatar for
avatar for

Get Connected

CADnotes on FacebookCADnotes on InstagramCADnotes on TwitterCADnotes on YouTube

© 2009 – 2025 CADnotes · Feedback · Privacy Policy · Become an affiliate

wpDiscuz