GREP, GREP, GREP, they’re always talking about GREP!
That’s what some of you are thinking, I know. But there’s a good reason, we talk about it all the time. It’s magic.
GREP allows you to do things that can’t be done any other way in InDesign…well, except for doing a ton of manual work. So if you like things like having weekends off, beating deadlines, impressing your boss/client, etc, there’s no better ally to have than GREP. The only problem is, using GREP involves learning some code, and not everyone enjoys that. Fortunately, David Blatner created a wonderfully user-friendly introduction to the topic in his Lynda.com course, 10 Things to Know About GREP.
Here’s the course description:
With its ability to find and replace character patterns in documents, GREP helps designers and editors work quickly and efficiently. Over the course of InDesign: 10 Things to Know About GREP, David Blatner demonstrates how to use GREP codes to improve workflow. He teaches GREP search techniques using patterns of numbers or letters or strings of words. David even shows how to use text patterns within a document. Exercise files accompany the course.
Topics include:
- Using pre-built find/change expressions
- Reordering names in an exported list from a database
- Working with GREP and fonts
- Establishing character formats with GREP style
- Using escape characters to customize code
- Accessing the fly-out menus to specify search commands
- Applying global conditions using GREP
In the free video below, David covers GREP basics for finding text. Check it out!
GREP basics: Using codes to find text
For Lynda.com members, if you are currently signed in to your account, you can also check out these videos from the series.
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Using GREP for styles
Escape characters
Finding how many and how long
This article was last modified on July 25, 2019
This article was first published on April 28, 2017
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