360 Scribe: Word for mac 2011 - Few find and replace actions are operating correctly

[fmpc51]

OK. I've downloaded the Scribe demo and I want to output filemaker data fields into my word document. I've duplicated the sample script for ScribeDocSubstitute (search string;replace string). but, only a handful of 12+ fields actually get their values replaced on the word doc output. (docx) The rest, contain the original search string and no new values. I've torn the source doc and my code apart and cannot see why some work and others don't. I've even made the strings no more than five alpha characters and one number long with no spaces. Any help out there? This should be much easier.

One thing I've noticed is that sometimes if I slightly alter the search string - like taking off the numeric character - makes it work. But, really! Some strings work with the numeric character, some don't?

Here's an example: "NAME1" works, "EMAIL1 works, but "PCIT1" doesn't? if I change PCIT1 to "PCIT" it does! How sensitive is this thing? I can't figure it out. I feel like this must be a 'red herring' but this is actually fixed it. Now, I've got 12+ codes to try to figure out what each one needs in order to work, but there's no rhyme or reason.

Has anyone else had this issue?

[wbasham]

Can you send me the FileMaker file you are using and include the Word file?

Also, have you tried using %%% on either side of the placeholder text? And make sure there are no spaces as well.

[Quito]

Find and Replace in Documents doesn't work for documents over 100MB

java.lang.OutOfMemoryError: Java heap space

[wbasham]

In this case, you'll need to increase the memory available to the plugin.

[owkleung]

I have encountered similar behavior on trying out the Scribe plugin as well. Using the #FirstName# as the key for example, the result is quite random. I found that when the key is inside table, it may not work but if the key is putting outside the table, it may work. It's quite frustrated on seeing this pattern.

For the case mentioned, the office version is 2011 runs under Mac.

Any clue would be much appreciated.

Thanks,

[wbasham]

Putting the data inside a table should still work. The way Word handles the placeholder text can cause problems. If the placeholder is modified and care is not taken to select the entire string, including % characters (# have also been known to cause issues), the string is broken into multiple strings inside the XML. This is invisible to the user and appears to be related to keeping track of revisions. The problem is that once the internal XML structure of the string is altered, the find and replace function is unable to match the string.

The best practices for the ScribeDocSubstitute are:

1. Use % for delimiters with all caps, i.e. %%PLACEHOLDER%%
   
2. Be very careful to select the entire string (including % symbols) when modifying a placeholder. The default behavior of Word if you double click into some strings is to NOT select the entire string. This will alter the string in the XML and prevent the ScribeDocSubstitute function from working correctly.
   
3. Be careful not to have trailing spaces or tabs that are part of the string.
   

Simple testing of a template document can be done using the Scribe sample file that comes with the plugin download.