• Outlook User
  • Exchange Admin
  • Office 365
  • Outlook Developer
  • Outlook.com
  • Outlook Mac
  • Outlook & iCloud
    • Common Problems
    • Outlook BCM
    • Utilities & Addins
    • Video Tutorials
    • EMO Archives
    • Outlook Updates
    • Outlook Apps
    • Forums

How to perform a global search and replace

Slipstick Systems

› Outlook › How to perform a global search and replace

Last reviewed on February 9, 2018     9 Comments

Applies to: Outlook 2016 (Win), Outlook 2013, Outlook 2010, Outlook 2007

August 4, 2002 by Diane Poremsky 9 Comments

While Microsoft Outlook itself includes no search and replace functions, you can use a grouped List view to help update a group of items. This example updates Contact items to a different Company Name, but you can use this technique to update any field other than Categories. (You can use this method to add categories to a contact.)

Notes | Tools | More Information

Using a Group By view

  1. In Contacts, create a List view grouped by Company Name if you don't already have one.
  2. Choose View | Expand/Collapse Groups | Collapse All.
  3. Expand the group that contains the company whose name you want to change.
  4. Open the first contact in the Group.
  5. Change the Company Name to the new name.
  6. Save the contact. It will end up in a new group.
  7. Collapse the group that you expanded, containing the remaining contacts you want to change.
  8. Drag the gray bar containing the original company name to the gray bar containing the new company name. If you hover briefly over the new company's group, you'll see a tip pop up, "Change Company Name to" whatever the group's name is.
    Drag to a new category to do a global replace
  9. Release the left mouse button.

See Tools below for add-ins which can do a search and replace.

Using in-cell editing

Although not a true global search and replace, you can use in-cell editing to edit individual contacts while in a list view. In-cell editing is typically enabled by default and you just need to click in the Contact's field (cell) to edit it. If in-cell editing is not enabled, enable in-cell editing in View Settings, Other Settings (View ribbon) or using the Customize Current view on the View menu in older versions. You can also right click on the row of field names and choose Custom (or View Settings in Outlook 2010 and up) then Other Settings.

Notes

This procedure can be used for other fields as well. Right mouse drag will give you more options.

If you need more flexible search and replace, try exporting from Outlook to a comma-delimited file. Open the file in Excel, and perform the search and replace there. Then re-import it into Outlook.

If you use this method to try to change the Category field, the new value is added to the categories for the items. It does not replace the category. Instead of using the grouped technique, try selecting the items you want to change, then right-clicking them and choosing Categories.

 

Tools in the Spotlight

Global Search and Replace

Easily update many contacts, appointments or tasks with this handy tool. Perfect for updating contacts after an area code split, or companies change names, even when a group of tasks must have all their due dates updated.

MAPILab Toolbox

MAPILab Toolbox is a collection of 18 different add-ins for Outlook. You can use all or only necessary add-ins from the list. Schedule message sending; access files from your computer through email; autofill message fields upon creation; plan the quantity of messages to be sent within a specified time-frame; get reminders from Outlook via SMS; manage your mailing lists, contacts and conversation; redirect your messages and more. works with Outlook 2000-2007. Version 3.2

Tools

More Information

Alternative methods:

  • Outlook Company Updater -- custom form
  • OL2002 How to Programmatically Update Company Names -- via VBA

Discuss in our community
How to perform a global search and replace was last modified: February 9th, 2018 by Diane Poremsky

Related Posts:

  • Contacts are Grouping in Two Groups of (none)
  • Updating Outlook Fields the Easy Way
  • open field chooser
    How to Easily Change the Private Flag
  • Keep Outlook from putting the wrong country in new addresses

About Diane Poremsky

A Microsoft Outlook Most Valuable Professional (MVP) since 1999, Diane is the author of several books, including Outlook 2013 Absolute Beginners Book. She also created video training CDs and online training classes for Microsoft Outlook. You can find her helping people online in Outlook Forums as well as in the Microsoft Answers and TechNet forums.

9
Leave a Reply

2500
Photo and Image Files
 
 
 
Audio and Video Files
 
 
 
Other File Types
 
 
 
2500
Photo and Image Files
 
 
 
Audio and Video Files
 
 
 
Other File Types
 
 
 

  Subscribe  
newest oldest most voted
Notify of
Phil Reinemann
Phil Reinemann

Diane, how does one "create a table view grouped by Company Name" in Outlook 2016?

I've created groups in Outlook 2011 & 2007, but I don't see anything like "table view" in 2016.

Vote Up00Vote Down Reply
August 17, 2017 6:47 pm
Diane Poremsky
Diane Poremsky

That would be List View in Outlook 2016.

Vote Up00Vote Down Reply
August 17, 2017 11:13 pm
Bill leeds
Bill leeds

Hi Diane, the window that allows me to enter debug, popped up. Message was "object variable or With block variable not set. Thanks again.

Vote Up00Vote Down Reply
October 18, 2015 7:46 am
Bill leeds
Bill leeds

Hi Diane It ran as far as this If Reg1.test(aItem.Subject) Then
and the it went to the debugger... any ideas??

thanks.

Vote Up00Vote Down Reply
October 15, 2015 5:24 am
Diane Poremsky
Diane Poremsky

What is the error message? Stopping there means it is probably failing to find aItem. Do you have a message selected?

Vote Up00Vote Down Reply
October 15, 2015 6:28 am
Bill leeds
Bill leeds

I'll give it a shot, and thanks for the prompt response. I'm not a 'programmer' but i can figure things out... eventually. Thanks again.

Vote Up00Vote Down Reply
October 15, 2015 4:59 am
Bill Leeds
Bill Leeds

Hi, within outlook inbox are a list of 1000 emails. In the Subject field some emails have a 'string' value and number without a space. others have the string value / space / number.
example SP12345 vs SP 12345 (note the space). What i would like to do is somehow do a global search and replace so I can remove the space between the letters SP and the Number. I believe I will need to write a macro to do this. I was wondering if you have any suggestions or perhaps have seen code that will do this. Any help would be gratefully appreciated.
Thanks

Vote Up1-1Vote Down Reply
October 14, 2015 9:04 am
Diane Poremsky
Diane Poremsky

you'll need to use a macro for sure. I would use regex to find (a-zA-Z)* (0-9)* then set it as a string, passing it to replace(strSubject, " ", "")

this shows how to change the subject - https://www.slipstick.com/outlook/email/add-a-file-number-or-keyword-to-the-subject-line-of-messages/ - you just need to change what gets changed.

Vote Up1-1Vote Down Reply
October 14, 2015 9:45 am
Diane Poremsky
Diane Poremsky

the macro here https://onedrive.live.com/redir?resid=92BFE835F50A11F5!904487&authkey=!AGdJC5ejvvYDOm4&ithint=folder%2ctxt works with the selected message and removes the space from a code in the format of 2 capital letters and any number of numbers.

Vote Up2-2Vote Down Reply
October 14, 2015 10:30 am

Visit Slipstick Forums.
What's New at Slipstick.com

Latest EMO: Vol. 24 Issue 3

Support Services

Do you need help setting up Outlook, moving your email to a new computer, migrating or configuring Office 365, or just need some one-on-one assistance?

Subscribe to Exchange Messaging Outlook






Our Sponsors

  • Popular
  • Latest
  • Week Month All
  • Adjusting Outlook's Zoom Setting in Email
  • The Signature or Stationery and Fonts button doesn't work
  • Security Certificate Warning in Microsoft Outlook
  • How to Remove the Primary Account from Outlook
  • This operation has been cancelled due to restrictions
  • Two Copies of Sent Messages in Outlook
  • Outlook's Rules and Alerts: Run a Script
  • Outlook is Not Recognized as the Default Email Client
  • To Cc or Bcc a Meeting Request
  • iCloud error: Outlook isn't configured to have a default profile
  • Outlook.com: Manage Subscriptions
  • Group By Views don’t work in To-Do List
  • Category shortcuts don’t work
  • How to disable the Group By view in Outlook
  • Adjusting Outlook's Zoom Setting in Email
  • Change the Subject of an Incoming Message
  • Creating Signatures in Outlook
  • Scheduling a Recurring Message
  • OneNote is missing from Office 365 / 2019
  • Create Rules using PowerShell
Ajax spinner

Newest VBA Samples

Adjusting Outlook's Zoom Setting in Email

Move email items based on a list of email addresses

Remove prefix from Gmail meeting invitations

How to hide LinkedIn, Facebook, Google and other extra contact folders in Outlook.com

Use VBA to create a Mail Merge from Excel

Open multiple Outlook windows when Outlook starts

Set most frequently used Appointment Time Zones

How to change the From field on incoming messages

VBA: File messages by client code

Update Contact Area Codes

Recent Bugs List

Microsoft keeps a running list of issues affecting recently released updates at Fixes or workarounds for recent issues in Outlook for Windows.

Windows 10 Issues

  • iCloud, Outlook 2016, and Windows 10
  • Better Outlook Reminders?
  • Coming Soon to Windows 10: Office 365 Search
  • Outlook Links Won’t Open In Windows 10
  • BCM Errors after Upgrading to Windows 10
  • Outlook can’t send mail in Windows 10: error Ox800CCC13
  • Missing Outlook data files after upgrading Windows?

Outlook 2016 Top Issues

  • The Windows Store Outlook App
  • Emails are not shown in the People Pane (Fixed)
  • Calendars aren’t printing in color
  • The Signature or Stationery and Fonts button doesn’t work
  • Outlook’s New Account Setup Wizard
  • BCM Errors after October 2017 Outlook Update
  • Excel Files Won’t Display in Reading Pane
  • Outlook 2016: No BCM
  • Exchange Account Set-up Missing in Outlook 2016

Repair PST

Convert an OST to PST

Repair damaged PST file

Repair large PST File

Remove password from PST

Merge Two Data Files

Sync & Share Outlook Data

  • Share Calendar & Contacts
  • Synchronize two computers
  • Sync Calendar and Contacts Using Outlook.com
  • Sync Outlook & Android Devices
  • Sync Google Calendar with Outlook
  • Access Folders in Other Users Mailboxes
  • “Live” Group Calendar Tools

Convert to / from Outlook

  • Converting Messages and Calendar or
    Address books
  • Moving Outlook to a New Computer
  • Moving Outlook 2010 to a new Windows computer
  • Moving from Outlook Express to Outlook

Recover Deleted Items

  • Recover deleted messages from .pst files
  • Are Deleted Items gone forever in Outlook?

Outlook 2013 Absolute Beginner's Guide

Diane Poremsky [Outlook MVP]

Make a donation

Calendar Tools

Schedule Management

Calendar Printing Tools

Calendar Reminder Tools

Calendar Dates & Data

Time and Billing Tools

Meeting Productivity Tools

Duplicate Remover Tools

Mail Tools

Sending and Retrieval Tools

Mass Mail Tools

Compose Tools

Duplicate Remover Tools

Mail Tools for Outlook

Online Services

Productivity

Productivity Tools

Automatic Message Processing Tools

Special Function Automatic Processing Tools

Housekeeping and Message Management

Task Tools

Project and Business Management Tools

Choosing the Folder to Save a Sent Message In

Run Rules on messages after reading

Help & Suggestions

Outlook Suggestion Box (UserVoice)

Slipstick Support Services

Contact Tools

Data Entry and Updating

Duplicate Checkers

Phone Number Updates

Contact Management Tools

Sync & Share

Share Calendar & Contacts

Synchronize two machines

Sharing Calendar and Contacts over the Internet

More Tools and Utilities for Sharing Outlook Data

Access Folders in Other Users Mailboxes

View Shared Subfolders in an Exchange Mailbox

"Live" Group Calendar Tools

Home | Outlook User | Exchange Administrator | Office 365 | Outlook.com | Outlook Developer
Outlook for Mac | Outlook BCM | Common Problems | Utilities & Addins | Tutorials
Outlook & iCloud Issues | Outlook Apps
EMO Archives | About Slipstick | Advertise | Slipstick Forums
Submit New or Updated Outlook and Exchange Server Utilities

Send comments using our Feedback page
Copyright © 2019 Slipstick Systems. All rights reserved.
Slipstick Systems is not affiliated with Microsoft Corporation.

You are going to send email to

Move Comment