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Bulk actions

Perform actions on multiple items

After creating and refining a query in the Data Explorer app, you can perform a bulk action on the results of that query. This makes it possible to edit or delete multiple items at once! You can also trigger workflows and create activities in bulk.

Select items

By default, bulk actions are performed on all items in the active query tab. To target specific items instead, select them in the query results. The toolbar indicates how many items are currently selected. Select to clear your selection.

When you're ready, select Bulk action in the bottom toolbar.

The Bulk action menu open in the toolbar, with multiple items selected

Bulk actions

The following bulk actions are available:

  • Edit X items - update selected items with changes to their appearance, collection, attribute values and geometry (see below).

  • Touch - resave the selected items with no changes. This is useful for updating items after their design has been changed, e.g. to regenerate their titles and subtitles.

  • Trigger workflow - trigger a manual workflow on the selected items. Choose an available workflow and enter any parameter values as needed.

  • Delete - permanently delete the selected items.

    Caution

    Deletions can't be undone, so please think carefully before doing so!

For assets and activities

If the design/interface being queried is an asset type or activity type, extra bulk actions are available. These let you create new activities for the selected items:

  • Create jobs - for each selected item, create a new job with that item as its parent.

  • Create inspections - for each selected item, create a new inspection with that item as its parent.

  • Create defects - for each selected item, create a new defect with that item as its parent.

When the Item Creator appears, choose a design for the new activity item(s). You can ignore the Parents and Location dropdowns, as these will be determined automatically. Each new activity item will inherit the same geometry as its parent, if available.

Populate attributes with values as needed. Required attributes are marked with an asterisk *. Be aware, each new activity item will receive the same attribute values. These can be edited later if necessary.

Select Create to perform the bulk action. An activity item will be created for each selected item in the query results.

Edit items

To edit various aspects of the selected items, select Bulk action in the bottom toolbar and choose Edit X items.

1 Configure properties

Select a property to overwrite it with a new value on all selected items:

  • Icon - use the icon picker to set a new icon, or select Unset icon to revert the items to their design's icon.

  • Colour - use the colour picker to set a new colour, or select Unset colour to revert the items to their design's colour.

  • Collection - move the items to another collection, if allowed by their design.

  • Locked - lock or unlock the items. Locked items can't be edited. Only admin users can do this!

Select another step or select Bulk edit to finish.

The first step of the Bulk Edit process

2 Configure attributes

To overwrite a particular attribute value on all selected items, select Add attribute and choose it from the list. Provide a new value or select Unset to clear the current one. Repeat for each attribute you want to overwrite.

Select another step or select Bulk edit to finish.

The second step of the Bulk Edit process

3 Configure geometry

Select one of the following to overwrite the geometry of all selected items:

  • Unset - clear existing geometry.

  • Set location - use the Geometry Editor to set new geometry by drawing points, lines or polygons on the map. This is only possible if the designs of all selected items have the same allowed geometry types.

Select another step or select Bulk edit to finish.

The third step of the Bulk Edit process

Confirmation

Bulk actions can potentially make sweeping changes to lots of data, which may be difficult to revert. Therefore, before any bulk action is performed, a confirmation window will appear.

Type the displayed text and select Yes to confirm that you want to proceed!

Why approximately?

The confirmation window states the approximate number of items to be edited. Why?

Because the items in the query results may have changed since the query was last performed. During this time, other users may have edited, deleted or created items that you were intending to edit.

Select Refresh data in the bottom toolbar to update the active query tab.

Type the displayed word to confirm the bulk action

When the bulk action finishes, a notification will appear to indicate success or failure. Select the notification for error details.

A notification confirming a successful bulk operation