WordPipe FAQ
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This is a collection of frequently asked questions about WordPipe.
Other help resources
- Timing calculator
- Troubleshooting guide
- Tutorials and User Guides
- Configuring a floating license
- Online discussion forums
- WordPipe Online Manual - press F1 or click on Index or Contents in the Help menu. Various translations are available here.
- Technical support
| I will be recommending
WordPipe to those customers who contact us requesting a tool to redirect OLE
and hyperlinks. I have already sent the WordPipe trial download url to
another customer. (and from an earlier conversation): ...WordPipe is the best tool I have seen to try and redirect links in Word documents... Joe Giunta |
Questions
How to update links in documents that are moved to a different file location on a server?
- Drag and drop your folders or your files into WordPipe - they will appear on the Files to Process tab
- Specify the Find what text on the Actions tab e.g. \\oldservername\oldshare\
- Specify the Replace with text on the Actions tab e.g. \\newservername\newshare
- Ensure the Look In Location has 'Hyperlink addresses' checked
- Press [F9] to start the replacing process
How can I use WordPipe on a SharePoint site?
Map your SharePoint site as a network drive.
How do I generate a hyperlink report?
1. On the
Actions tab, check Generate a hyperlink report
2. Add a single search/replace row, with Find what of *,
Replace with of nothing, and check the Look In location Inside
hyperlink addresses
3. Drag and drop your files or folders to the Files to Process tab.
4. Click [Search Only]
5. At the end of processing, the Report can be found on the Hyperlink Report
tab, and can be saved to disk by clicking the Save icon.
Can you replace text and keep a special font?
If the text has a font it will be retained. But WordPipe can't apply or remove a font, unless you place the replacement on the clipboard (formatted correctly) and then use ^c as the replacement text.
I get the message "Access to code modules disallowed. See the help file under Code Modules security"
How do I update Word 2007 hidden text?
Open Word 2007, set the Tools\Options\View option to "display hidden", close Word 2007, then run WordPipe on the set of files.
Why doesn't WordPipe update document properties?
A small number of document properties (such as the original author) are protected by Microsoft Word and cannot be changed
How do I disable AutoRun macros while I run WordPipe?
WordPipe does this for you.
My Find what text is longer than 255 characters. How do I work around the Microsoft Word limitation?
WordPipe does this for you.
Error: The disk is full. Free some space on this drive, or save the document on another disk
This MS Word error message has nothing to do with the disk being full! It indicates that the document may be partially corrupted. The solution is to open the document in Microsoft Word, save it to RTF format, then close the original, open the RTF version and save it as .doc format again.
How do I update my ISO-9001 revision number when a change is made?
When I run the replace to change merge fields, the link to my mail merge data source is broken. I have to go back in and tell Microsoft Word what source it is merging from.
This is a known issue with Microsoft Word. WordPipe does not modify the mail merge data at all.
When I search and replace a document with WordPipe, the page breaks move.
Check only the "Body' search location (uncheck the Header and Footer locations) - it seems that even just searching these sections seems to force Microsoft Word to repaginate the document. This is a Microsoft Word issue.
How do I prevent Microsoft Word from changing the case of my replacement?
If you try to replace an all uppercase string (e.g. XXXX) in a document with a mixed case string (e.g. FileName), then Microsoft Word helpfully makes all letters in the replacement string uppercase (e.g. FILENAME). On the other hand, if the original string had mixed case (e.g. XxXx or xXxX) or was all lowercase (e.g. xxxx), then the case in the replacement string is preserved.
If the original text is all uppercase, then the workaround is to select the Match Case checkbox in WordPipe.
How do I search and replace graphics/images?
- First, drag and drop your file(s) into WordPipe, so it knows which files to modify.
- Now, assuming your image is in the Header, check the 'Header' search location only, and then it will only replace an image found in the header.
- Use a 'Normal' replace
- Set the search text to
^g
Literally, Shift-6, g (this means 'match an image/graphic') - Set the replacement text to
^c
Literally, Shift-6, c ('^c' means 'the clipboard contents') - Prior to replacing, copy the replacement image to the Windows clipboard (First put your new image into a Microsoft Word document, then select it, and click Edit Menu\Copy. That saves it to the clipboard)
- Then start the Replace job.
If the image is floating, not inline, then WordPipe won't find it. However, often we can design a simple macro to go through and convert floating to inline images. Please send a sample document to us.
To find out if an image is Inline or Floating, Right-click the image, Format Picture..., Layout tab, 'Inline with text' means it is inline and can be found with WordPipe.
What EasyPattern wildcards can I use?
Note: EasyPattern wildcards (reference) are only available inside plain text fields, such as hyperlink addresses, OLE links and document properties.
| Purpose | Find What and Replace With terms |
| Extract filename from a URL and add a new server and path Input: https://intranet.gotafe.vic.edu.au/teaching/course/electro/technology.doc Output: https://newintranet.gotafe.vic.edu.au/documentlibrary/technology.doc |
Find what: [ lineStart, 1+chars, '/', capture(longest 1+ not '/' ), lineEnd ] Replace with: https://newintranet.gotafe.vic.edu.au/documentlibrary/$1 |
| Extract filename and part of a path from a UNC server path
and add a new server and path Input: Output: \\newserver\new_share_name\teaching\course\electro\technology.doc |
Find what: [ lineStart, Replace with (note doubling of \) \\\\newserver\\internal\\teaching\\$3\\$4 |
What perl regex wildcards can I use?
Note: perl regex wildcards (reference) are only available inside plain text fields, such as hyperlink addresses, OLE links and document properties.
| Purpose | Find What and Replace With terms |
| Extract filename from a URL and add a new server and path Input: https://intranet.gotafe.vic.edu.au/teaching/course/electro/technology.doc Output: https://newintranet.gotafe.vic.edu.au/documentlibrary/technology.doc |
Find what: ^.+/([^/]+?)$ Replace with: https://newintranet.gotafe.vic.edu.au/documentlibrary/$1 |
| Extract filename and part of a path from a UNC server path
and add a new server and path Input: Output: \\newserver\new_share_name\teaching\course\electro\technology.doc |
Find what: ^\\\\([^\\]+)\\([^\\]+)\\(.+)\\([^\\]+)$ Replace with: \\\\newserver\\internal\\teaching\\$3\\$4 |
How do I completely replace my existing header or footer?
There is a trick to this! You can only change the Header OR Footer at a time, because the new Header or Footer has to be on the clipboard.
In Microsoft Word (not in WordPipe):
- First copy the replacement Header or Footer from Microsoft Word to the clipboard (select it in Microsoft Word, then click Edit Menu\Copy).
- Close Microsoft Word.
Then, in WordPipe (not in Microsoft Word):
- Set the Search Type to 'Use Wildcards'.
- In Search Location (below the Search Type), check either 'Header' or 'Footer'. Uncheck all other options.
-
In Find What, use the following:
For each line of your existing header or footer, repeat the text
?*^13
once. So if your header has 4 lines (*), your search text would be
?*^13?*^13?*^13?*^13
Graphics will be matched as well. (*) Note: You can test that this works using Microsoft Word's replacement facility - and verify that it matches the entire header. -
Set the Replace With text to
^c
(this will paste in the new header or footer from the clipboard). - Choose your documents on the Files tab, then click [Go]!
WordPipe's default screen (Click to enlarge)
Can I add a header to a Word document if one does not already exist?
Yes - set the Search Type to 'Use Wildcards',
Check the Search Location of 'Header',
Set the Find What text to
*
And put your new text in the Replace With field. You can also put the text
^c
In the Replace With field, and copy your new header to the clipboard before starting. WordPipe will then paste in the new text for you.
When I Replace With the Clipboard Contents (^c), the formatting changes
The style name from the source (usually Normal) is taken from the Target document. Create a new style in the source document (e.g. Fred), so when it is pasted there is no matching style name in the target document, and Word is forced to apply the actual formatting rather than matching style names.
What does ‘Call was rejected by callee’ mean?
This error indicates that Microsoft-Word has hung or is waiting for a response from the user. You can try using [Alt+Tab] to transfer control to Microsoft-Word and deal with the error manually. If this fails, start Task Manager with [Ctrl+Alt-Del], and go to the Processes tab. Sort by Image Name, select winword.exe and then click the [End Process] button. Remove any other copies of winword.exe you see.
What does ‘The RPC server is unavailable’ mean?
This error indicates that Microsoft-Word has hung or is waiting for a response from the user - usually because you have other documents or an Microsoft-Word dialog open, or are using Microsoft-Word as an email editor (ignoring the warnings displayed at the start of the job).
What does ‘Error unprotecting or getting protection type’ mean?
This indicates that the document is protected from changes (this is different to a password on open), and that you have not provided the correct password.
Why does WordPipe appear to hang?
This occasionally occurs when Microsoft Word is trying to display a dialog box, such as for a missing mail merge data file (note: WordPipe does NOT pause for missing passwords. If you have not specified the correct password, these files are logged for manual handling). Simply press [Alt+Tab] to get to Microsoft Word, then clear the dialog box. Once this is done, WordPipe will resume at normal speed.