Dynodex will find any text in any field (this is "doing a Find"). You can also find text and change it to something else. This is called "doing a Find-and-Change". You can change all records at once, or you can find and change one record at a time.
Global delete/Global add: Find and change is very useful if you want to find certain text and change it to nothing (i.e., delete it wherever it occurs). This is a global delete. You can also find all cases of a field that's blank (i.e., find "nothing") and put something into it (i.e., change certain blanks to "something"). This is a global add. (See below.)
To find and change one record at a time (discretionary change):
• Choose "Find", Cmd-F, from the Find Menu.
• Type the old text (that you want to change) in the "Find What" box.
• Tab to the "Change To" field and type the new text (that you're changing it to).
• Select the field you want to “Search In” from the pop-up list.
(We recommend leaving this set to "All Fields", unless you want to restrict your changes to a specific field.)
• Click on the "Find" button.
• The entry screen will display the first record that contains the old "Find What" text. Choose "Change", Cmd-H, to replace it with the new "Change To" text. Or, you can type any other text you want to change it to. If you don't want to change it at all, you don't have to.
• Choose "Find Next", Cmd-G, to view the next record that contains the "Find What" text.
To find and change all records at once (global change):
• Follow the first 4 steps above.
• Click on the "Change All" button.
"Change All" replaces every instance of the "Find What" text with the "Change To" text. The changes are made automatically in the background. When all changes have been made, Dynodex tells you how many changes were made in how many records.
To globally delete:
• Type the old text you want to delete in the "Find What" text box.
• Leave the "Change To" text box empty.
• Select "All Fields" or a specific field from the "Search In" pop-up list.
• Choose "Change All". Dynodex will replace the old text with nothing, since you typed nothing in the "Change To" text box.
To globally add:
• Leave "Find What" blank.
• Type the new text you want to add in the "Change To" box. (For example, you could add "USA" in the "Country" field for all records where the "Country" field is empty.)
• Select "All Fields" or a specific field from the "Search In" pop-up list.
• Choose "Change All". Dynodex will find all instances of a blank field and fill it with the new "Change To" text.
NOTE: You may use the "?" character as a wild card in the "Find What" text box. Typing "C???man" will find Cartman, Chapman, Clubman, etc. and replace all those different words to the "Change To" text.
