We previously wrote about replacing text in documents in DEVONthink, which is mainly useful within single documents. Handling items one-by-one works fine for small batches, but it quickly becomes slower and more error-prone as your volume grows. However, you can easily change certain texts in multiple items using a batch process. To do that:
- Select some items you want to rename.
- Now select Tools > Batch Process > Batch Process and press the plus button (+) to start a new configuration.
- Choose the Find & Replace action.
- Select Name, click Edit, and enter the text to change and its replacement. For example, replace
devonthinkwithDEVONthink. Enable Case Insensitive if you want all capitalizations to be changed. - Click the Apply button and the name is changed.
The action works on names, URLs, item aliases, and Finder comments. This feature is used very often, for example, to rename multiple documents at once. Or, if you’re using the Pro or Server edition, it works on custom metadata attributes too. Imagine you have an attribute for your creditors. Early on you entered BestBuy and later changed it. To clean things up, select the documents and choose the attribute, e.g., Creditor, and define the replacement: BestBuy becomes Best Buy. When you apply it, that metadata will change for all the selected documents. Documents already using Best Buy remain untouched since they don’t match the criteria.
Logically, if you have different repeated replacements, you can create a new configuration for each one. And if this is a replacement you do often, you can quickly access it via the Tools > Batch Process menu or via the context menu in the item list. It’s also possible to assign a hotkey to make running it even quicker!