If you are saving the file as an XML then read on how-to replace them globally *outside* of GNC using 'perl pie' method. Others have mentioned how to do so from within GNC.
In order to do this, you will need Perl installed on your desktop. If you are on Windows then if you are fetching quotes into GNC then you are all set. If not then run the "Install Online Price Retrieval for GnuCash" file which will install amongst other thing Strawberry Perl. Steps for Windows: 1 - Make sure that you are not saving the file in compressed format. Go to 'Edit' -> 'Preferences' -> 'General' and make sure that 'Compress Files' under 'Files' section is *unchecked*. 2 - Save the file to a new name so old one is there in case you don't like the result. Go to 'File' -> 'Save As...' and save it by some different name and know which folder it is saved in. 3 - Launch CMD prompt. 4 - CD into the location of the file from step 3 above. 5 - Executing following command while in CMD launched in step 3 while replacing AAA with your change "from" string and BBB with your change "to" string: perl -pi.bak -e "s+>AAA<+>BBB<+g" gnc_file_name Keep all the spaces, pluses, less than, greater than and any other signs in the positions that they are as their placement is important; just change 'AAA' text to what you want to replace *from* and 'BBB' to what you want to replaced *to*. Open the file in GNC to check and verify to your hearts content. If all good then you can copy over the live file to use updated one going forward. This will replace in the entire file, in all accounts, without any discrimination so make sure that you want to do this. Also you need to be exact in replacement for 'AAA' and 'BBB' strings, including casing, etc. Avoid using non-alphanumeric or special characters. *NIX and Mac are similar in the process except in the Perl command replace double quotes with single quotes, and open a terminal window instead of CMD window. Hope that helps. -----Original Message----- From: Peter West <[email protected]> Sent: Thursday, February 19, 2026 3:15 AM To: David T. <[email protected]> Cc: [email protected]; Peter via gnucash-user <[email protected]> Subject: Re: [GNC] Global Replacement of Payee Name In an SQL version of the file, it is possible that payee names appear only once, and that changing the name while leaving the id intact would change all instances. But the SQL may not be designed that way. — Peter West [email protected] `“Can you make wedding guests fast while the bridegroom is with them? The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast in those days.”` > On 19 Feb 2026, at 5:17 PM, David T. via gnucash-user > <[email protected]> wrote: > > I don't believe there's such a function directly. > > Two options: > > 1) Open the data file in an app that has find and replace (text editor for > XML, SQL app for db files). Be sure to have a backup or work on a copy of > your file, in case of accidents. > > 2) From the chart of accounts, search for the bad string. In the results > register, edit the first transaction found to have the proper string, > highlight and copy this string before committing the transaction. Then, press > enter to commit the new transaction, whereupon it will disappear from the > results register. Highlight the description of the next transaction, paste > the right term again, and press enter. Repeat until the search register is > empty. > > HTH, > David T. > > On February 19, 2026 11:23:18 AM GMT+05:30, Peter via gnucash-user > <[email protected]> wrote: >> Yes, sometimes a "find and replace all instances of a piece of text" >> facility would be handy. >> >> (Or is it there and I just haven't found it?) >> >> Peter >> >> On 19/02/2026 3:44 pm, Ram Vilas Gupta wrote: >>> Is there any method to change / update the name of a payee in the >>> entire file of the register? Id yes, please send the link. >>> _______________________________________________ >>> gnucash-user mailing list >>> [email protected] >>> To update your subscription preferences or to unsubscribe: >>> https://lists.gnucash.org/mailman/listinfo/gnucash-user >>> ----- >>> Please remember to CC this list on all your replies. >>> You can do this by using Reply-To-List or Reply-All. >>> >>> >>> -- >>> This message has been scanned by E.F.A. Project and is believed to be clean. >>> >>> >> _______________________________________________ >> gnucash-user mailing list >> [email protected] >> To update your subscription preferences or to unsubscribe: >> https://lists.gnucash.org/mailman/listinfo/gnucash-user >> ----- >> Please remember to CC this list on all your replies. >> You can do this by using Reply-To-List or Reply-All. > > > David T. > _______________________________________________ > gnucash-user mailing list > [email protected] > To update your subscription preferences or to unsubscribe: > https://lists.gnucash.org/mailman/listinfo/gnucash-user > ----- > Please remember to CC this list on all your replies. > You can do this by using Reply-To-List or Reply-All. _______________________________________________ gnucash-user mailing list [email protected] To update your subscription preferences or to unsubscribe: https://lists.gnucash.org/mailman/listinfo/gnucash-user ----- Please remember to CC this list on all your replies. 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