How to find and replace text in Zendesk help center articles

To find and replace text across your Zendesk help center, install Sprucewell, open it from the left navigation bar and go to Find and replace. Type what to find and what to replace it with, choose where to search, and click Find matches. Every translation with a match is listed, each match shown in context. Untick anything to leave alone, name the change and click Apply. Undo it any time from History.

Steps

1. Type the text. Fill in what to find and what to replace it with. Leave Replace empty to remove the text.
2. Set the options.
   • Match case only matches the exact capitalization.
   • Whole words skips matches inside longer words.
   • Pattern treats the search as a regular expression. Use $1, $2 in the replacement for groups.
3. Choose where to search (see the table below). Titles and Article text are on by default.
4. Narrow it down by language, category, section, labels or status.
5. Click Find matches. Each match shows the old text struck through and the new text highlighted. Untick a match, or a whole article, to leave it unchanged.
6. Name the change. The name appears in History.
7. Click Apply. Changes run one translation at a time. You can stop a run; whatever already changed is in History.

Where to search

In article text, Sprucewell never changes tag names, attributes, scripts or styles, and never turns your replacement into HTML. Markup only changes when you choose HTML source.

Examples

When an article changes mid-run

Sprucewell re-reads each translation just before writing it. If someone saved it after your preview, it's skipped and listed under "Not changed". Search again to include it.

Undo

Open History, find the change by its name and click Undo to put back every item, or Show items and Undo this one for a single article. If an item was edited after Sprucewell's change, Undo skips it and offers Undo anyway, which overwrites the later edit. Undo copies are kept for 365 days by default (Keep undo copies for (days)).

Limits

• Default brand's help center only.
• Find and replace lists the first 5,000 matching translations. Narrow with filters for more.
• Changing an article needs a Guide admin, or an agent allowed to edit it. Zendesk refuses the rest and Sprucewell lists them as not changed.

What it costs

Sprucewell is billed monthly by Zendesk per Zendesk account, by article translations (an article in three languages counts three): Starter $85 a month for up to 2,000, Growth $125 for up to 6,000, Scale $175 for any number. Every feature is on every plan, with a 14-day free trial. See the Sprucewell documentation.