How to find and replace text in all your Zendesk macros

To find and replace text across Zendesk macros, install Quillmend, open it from the left navigation bar and type the old text into Search titles and content. Select the matching macros, choose Find and replace, enter the new text under Replace with and click Preview changes. Check each macro's before and after, untick any you want to leave out, then click Apply to N macros. Every change can be undone from History.

Where Quillmend looks

Titles, Reply text and Subject are ticked by default.

Search finds text anywhere in a macro, including links and placeholders, so searching for your old help center address lists every macro that links to it.

Steps

1. Search for the old text. Type it into Search titles and content on the Macros tab. Only shared macros are listed; personal macros are never shown or changed.
2. Select the macros. Click rows, or use Select all N shown to take every macro in the filtered list.
3. Choose Find and replace. Enter the text under Find and the new text under Replace with, and pick where to look.
4. Set the options. Match case for an exact capitalization, Whole words only so "Pro" doesn't match "Product", or Pattern (regular expression, $1 in the replacement) for text that varies.
5. Click Preview changes. Each macro that would change is listed with the old value in red and the new value in green, field by field. Macros the change leaves alone are counted, not listed.
6. Read the warnings. A warning flags anything worth a second look, such as a placeholder that changes or a tag that would contain a space. A blocker stops a single macro, such as an empty title.
7. Click Apply to N macros. Quillmend asks you to confirm, then writes one macro at a time, leaving API room for your agents. Keep the page open until it finishes.

Rich text stays intact

In rich reply text only the words change. Formatting, links and images stay as they are, unless you also tick Link addresses in rich replies, which changes link targets too. One limit follows from that: a phrase that is partly bold or partly a link isn't matched as one phrase, so search for the plain part of it instead.

Pattern examples

For link targets, tick Link addresses in rich replies under Look in. Article numbers change when articles are merged or moved between help centers, so check the new links before you replace.

Undo a replace

The result screen has Undo this change. Later, the History tab lists every change with who made it, when, and each macro before and after. Undo restores the whole change and Undo this macro restores one. If someone edited a macro after your change, Undo skips it and says so; Undo that one anyway overwrites that later edit.

Limits

• Up to 1,000 macros per change.
• A macro with roughly 13,000 characters of reply text or more can't be changed, because Zendesk stores at most 32 KB per undo record. The preview marks it.
• Dynamic content items, triggers and automations aren't edited. Links inside dynamic content stay a separate job.

What it costs

Quillmend is priced per Zendesk account by the number of shared macros, active and inactive: Team $99 a month for up to 25, Professional $199 a month for up to 250, and Enterprise $349 a month for any number. Every plan has every feature and a 14-day free trial; Zendesk asks for a card at install and bills monthly. The full reference is in the Quillmend documentation.