---
title: "Search & Replace"
description: "In the EXTRA menu, Search and Replace finds records by conditions you set and changes facilities, buildings, personnel, keys and other data in a single pass."
url: https://help.portiervision.com/en/articles/104-search-and-replace
collection: "System Administration"
updated: 2026-08-28
language: en
alternates: [de, fr]
---

# Search & Replace

In the EXTRA menu, Search and Replace finds records by conditions you set and changes facilities, buildings, personnel, keys and other data in a single pass.

If you want to not only search for records but also modify them as part of a query, click in the menu **EXTRA** on the entry **Search and Replace**.

Here you have several options:

-   **Facilities:** Search facilities and modify facility data
    
-   **Buildings:** Search buildings and modify building data
    
-   **Personnel:** Search personnel and modify personnel data
    
-   **Keys:** Search keys and modify key data
    
-   **Copies:** Search copies and modify copy data
    
-   **Cylinders:** Search cylinders and modify cylinder data
    
-   **Bunches:** Search bunches and modify bunch data
    
-   **Users:** Search users and modify user data
    

The general procedure is as follows:

-   In the tab **Search** you define conditions
    
-   In the tab **Result** the found records are displayed
    
-   You select the records that should be changed
    
-   In the tab **Change** you define which data should be changed and how
    

**An example:**

The department "Verkauf" changes its name and is now called "Sales". The personnel data (who belongs to which department) should be updated accordingly.

The task is now to find the people whose data needs to be changed.

To do this, click in the menu **EXTRA** on **Search and Replace** and select the entry **Personnel**.

The window **Search and Replace: Personnel** opens.

![The window Search and Replace: Personnel opens.](https://staticfiles.gleap.io/g/iVYFK9gbBkHJ9qhIjJT71tCqqJVUp1qayz3Eo1MJoKMzbDk4lT6Z7uTsQ8IVXeqIbIjRXA3nqIS.png)

In the row **Department** select in the column **1st Condition** the entry **equal to**. In the row **Department** enter in column **1\. Search Field** "Verkauf". Start the search by clicking the button **Start Selection**. In the tab **Result**, the people assigned to the department "Verkauf" are displayed.

![By clicking the button Check All, you select all found people.](https://staticfiles.gleap.io/g/QMj3EVkX93jggbKdMLN2hHVLceMn2QYAmyeQdQf2jdl4F23H8Zq8O1BoaooUe0ITvZa9Z272Ns5.png)

By clicking the button **Check All**, you select all found people.

![If you only want to select individual people, click on these people in the column Change.](https://staticfiles.gleap.io/g/C1QR3Uv1B89ukQRveqHkMP583v4VqVFeJNQJUFLlhKGDzyvBsVSdXEaOBUsqe6x04QcVLyfZI15.png)

If you only want to select individual people, click on these people in the column **Change**.

![In the tab Change enter in the row Department the new field content (in this case "Sales").](https://staticfiles.gleap.io/g/mBXe6LHItoK4QEHSwFLrHrWWnvHhWRMH1DCjUjMB9KiZtVEPQlwcYtg0R51jYfiFxTYPUx0kbgB.png)

In the tab **Change** enter in the row **Department** the new field content (in this case "Sales").

**Please note:** Only perform the change when you are absolutely sure. The data is written straight into the database. There is no undo. The only way back is a database backup. So check the hit list in the tab **Result** first. When in doubt, change a small selection first.

![The data is changed by clicking the button Apply Changes.](https://staticfiles.gleap.io/g/JhxlmM21H4FRAC8ed9oTgXBAPcTIonVDLb9pZoCBOPIqiKPKHbDl6OkRWBzmHRmq7uGYD3kdR83.png)

The data is changed by clicking the button **Apply Changes**.

Following the same procedure, you can modify facilities and buildings, keys and copies, cylinders and bunches, as well as users.

## Correcting data after an import

Search and Replace is the tool you use to catch up on what an import in the portier Vision Companion does not do itself. Four cases come up regularly.

**An existing facility or building was not updated.** A re-import does not update a facility or a building that is already in Vision. Changed master data from the file therefore never reaches the record. Enter it through **Facilities** or **Buildings**.

**Key type and locking type are wrong.** These two fields are not rewritten on a re-import. Correct them in bulk through **Keys**.

**Two buildings have become one.** The import matches a building by its name alone. Two buildings with the same name therefore collapse into a single record, even when the description differs. Give them unique names through **Buildings** before you import again.

**People are wrongly marked as departed.** The personnel import marks every person missing from the file as departed. If the file was truncated, that hits people who are still with the company. There is no threshold that stops the run in this case. Search for the affected people through **Personnel** and reset the marking in the tab **Change**.