# Edit copy in the Matrix

You'll compare page copy across audiences, edit several cells, and paste copy from a spreadsheet without leaving the campaign editor.

Available on the Scale and Pro plans.

Use **Matrix** to compare the same headline, paragraph, or button across audiences. Each editable cell belongs to one audience and one element, so you can work through your copy without selecting each element on the page.

## Open the page and choose Matrix

Open your campaign editor and choose **Matrix**. The grid uses the page already open in the editor. To work on another page, choose **Preview**, enter its URL in **Page address**, and choose **Go**. Then open **Matrix**.

The first column, **Element**, identifies each page element. **Original** shows the unchanged copy and is read-only. Each audience has its own column. Empty editable cells show **Same as original**.

You need an audience before you can add personalized copy. [Manage your audiences](https://rightmessage.com/help/personalization-audiences) explains how to add them and choose their segments.

![Matrix with the Element column, original copy and personalized copy for two audiences](https://rightmessage.com/help/screens/personalize-editor-matrix.light.webp)

*Compare the original page copy with each audience's copy in one grid.*

## Show the rows and audiences you need

**Changed only** is selected by default. It shows elements that already have changes. Choose **All elements** to include available elements that haven't been personalized yet.

- **Audiences** lets you show or hide individual audiences or a whole segment group. **All audiences** selects or clears the full list.
- **Elements** lets you choose rows. **All available elements** selects or clears the available list. Longer lists have a **Find by label or selector** search field.
- **Clear filters** removes the audience and element filters. It doesn't switch **Changed only** to **All elements**.

**Original** stays visible when you filter. Pasting, cell selection, and **Fill empty cells** use the displayed rows and audience columns.

## Write and save a cell

Click an editable audience cell and type the copy you want. Press **Enter** or click outside the cell to save it to the draft. Press **Escape** before saving to discard your typing.

For a long cell, choose its expand icon. The larger dialog shows the full copy and, for an audience cell, **Original** for comparison. Edit the copy and choose **Save**, or choose **Cancel** to leave it unchanged.

Emptying a cell removes its text or find-and-replace change. Other changes, such as styling or visibility, remain. Plain copy typed into the Matrix is treated as text, not HTML.

## Find and replace part of the copy

A cell can contain replacement instructions instead of a complete new sentence. Start each instruction with `%s/` and put one instruction on each line.

For a literal text replacement, leave off the final slash:

```text
%s/team/agency
```

A final slash makes the find value a regular expression. Optional flags follow that slash:

```text
%s/team/agency/gi
```

Here, `g` replaces all matches and `i` ignores capitalization. The supported flags are `g`, `i`, `m`, `s`, `u`, `v`, and `y`; they must form a valid JavaScript regular expression. Even without flags, `%s/team/agency/` is a regular expression.

Escape a literal slash as `\/` and a backslash as `\\` in either part. For example:

```text
%s/team\/project/agency\/project
%s/\\bteam\\b/agency/gi
```

The first line replaces the literal text `team/project`. The second uses the regular-expression word boundary `\b`.

Don't mix ordinary copy and substitution lines in one cell. The editor shows **Do not mix substitution lines and plain text.** and leaves the edit unsaved. Other invalid formats show a line-numbered error, such as an empty find value, an unescaped slash, or invalid regex flags. Correct the error before saving. The expanded dialog disables **Save** while the notation is invalid.

## Paste copy from a spreadsheet

1. Arrange your spreadsheet rows in the same order as the visible elements. Arrange its columns in the same order as the visible audiences.
2. Copy the cells, without the spreadsheet's headings or original-copy column.
3. Click the first editable destination cell in the Matrix and paste.

The copied rows and columns fill a rectangle from that cell. Pasting can replace existing copy; it isn't an empty-cells-only operation. A blank spreadsheet cell clears the destination's text or find-and-replace change but keeps its other changes. Copied rows or columns beyond the displayed grid are ignored.

Changed cells briefly highlight. Read-only cells and invalid substitution cells are skipped. The notice reports the skipped count with **read-only cells or invalid find/replace notation.** It doesn't count copied cells beyond the grid. Review the grid before continuing.

## Select and change several cells

Use these gestures on editable audience cells:

| To select                        | Use                                                              |
| -------------------------------- | ---------------------------------------------------------------- |
| One cell                         | Click                                                            |
| A rectangle from your first cell | **Shift-click** another cell, or drag across cells               |
| Separate cells                   | **Command-click** on macOS or **Ctrl-click** on Windows or Linux |
| No cells                         | **Escape**, or the selection bar's **Clear cell selection** icon |

With at least 2 cells selected, the selection bar offers:

- **Clear**: removes the selected text or find-and-replace changes together. It keeps other changes such as styles and links. This is different from clearing the selection.
- **Rewrite with Righty**: starts a new conversation about exactly those cells. Righty's first reply recaps the selection and asks what you want to change before writing. [Write page copy with Righty](https://rightmessage.com/help/write-page-copy-with-righty) explains the review and undo steps.

**Original** and other read-only cells aren't included in a selection.

![Matrix with multiple selected headline cells and the Clear and Rewrite with Righty controls](https://rightmessage.com/help/screens/personalize-editor-matrix-selection.light.webp)

*Select several cells to clear their copy or start a scoped Righty rewrite.*

## Open an element in Edit

Choose **Show on page** in an **Element** row to switch to **Edit** and select that element. Where a cell offers **Edit on page**, it also selects that cell's audience.

A change shared across several page elements is read-only in the affected Matrix cells. Cells containing HTML, multiple content changes, or find-and-replace values with embedded line breaks can also be read-only. Use **Edit on page** to work on those changes in the element editor. [Personalize page content](https://rightmessage.com/help/personalize-page-content) covers that editor's controls.

When your copy is ready, choose **Preview** to check it by audience, then use **Preview on your site** to test the unpublished draft on your website. Follow [testing your changes](https://rightmessage.com/help/best-practices-for-testing) before publishing.