Bulk Operations with Items

It is possible to perform operations with multiple items at once by selecting them on the module view. Once items are selected, the Bulk Operations toolbar appears on the top. The toolbar may contain such buttons:

• Change Status;

• Download;

• Delete/Inactivate;

• Reactivate;

• Edit;

• Share;

• Compare Files;

• Download Annotations;

• Download Merged PDF. 

Besides that, the Bulk Upload button is available directly from Module topbar.

Bulk operations access and configuration are explained in the next table (assumed that the user already has "Read" access to the module):

Bulk Upload

It is a fast way to create multiple items with files and identical metadata. It can be accessed by clicking the button on the module view.

Files can be uploaded via drag&drop or using selection them on the file structure. Before saving user can add or remove the files from the pane - this will not store them in the system.

After completing the files user will be prompted to fill in the metadata of the new items to be created.

At the end of the operation, the user will see the short summary about the upload.

Using Item as a Template for Bulk Upload

To avoid manual completing the metadata form on upload, you can call the Bulk Upload from the particular item's Actions Menu in Module View.

1. Choose an item which you want to use as a template.

2. Open its Actions Menu.

3. Select Bulk Upload (note, the option is available only in Module View).
   

4. Proceed with uploading files.

5. The Metadata form will be prefilled with the values from the chosen item.

Note!
In case of any dependencies and prefilling configured for the module fields, they will overwrite values manually entered into the fields, as item creation is a background operation that will call a sync endpoint in case of bulk upload.

Bulk Copy

1. Open Module Settings and enable Copy Items feature.

2. Set Maximum Number of Copies Allowed to the number larger than 1.

   

3. On item Item Info sheet click the Copy button and specify the desired number of copies.

   

4. After confirming you will be redirected to the View with copies that you can edit before saving.

5. When all needed changes are done, switch to the Spreadsheet view. 

6. This will enable Save button, so you can save your copies.    

⚠️ User need to have Read and Upload access to the to-be-created items (via status settings) in order to finalize copying.

Bulk Edit 

If some info should be edited in several items at once Bulk Editing Metadata feature can be used. On this purpose, all Module Items have checkboxes in the Module view. Checking at least one of them enables the toolbar on top. And available actions will be applied for all checked Items.

Also, the user can see how many items were selected for the changes will be applied to.

However, the Bulk Editing toolbar can be closed without any changes performing by the [×] (close) button on the left.

Bulk Edit form displays the fields available for editing. Note, that some fields are empty and some can be prefilled according to the specific module configuration. Changes will be applied only for those fields which will be changed by the user. Untouched fields won’t be affected. This means:

The field will be changed and saved

• if it was initially empty and the user set the new value to it;

• if it has autofilling/prefilling mechanism and was changed indirectly by editing the parent field.

The field will be skipped for saving (even if it looks like it has been changed)

• if it had some value (different for different items), shown as empty in Bulk Edit window, and not edited by the user;

• if it was initially prefilled on Bulk Edit window open and not changed by the user.

Fields with Do not allow duplicates option are not displayed in Bulk Edit window.

Before the final confirmation, the Preview Changes screen will show exactly the fields to be affected by the Bulk Edit operation.

Bulk Edit button is disabled when there is at least one item that the user has no rights can be performed only on the set of selected items which does not include the read-only items.

Bulk Delete/Inactivate/Reactivate

Whether item to be deleted or just inactivated is controlled by the parameter in Module Settings.

Note, that different access permissions required for Inactivate and Reactivate operations (see the table above).

Bulk Status Transition

See more about Workflow Transitions.

It is possible to change the status of multiple items that have the same status selecting them in the Module View.

If the items which are in different statuses are selected the Bulk Transition button will be disabled.

The user, who has no Edit access to actual item's status cannot perform the status change from this item.

The user, who has Edit access to actual item's status but no Edit access to the target item's status still can perform the status change. Note, that in this case user may lose access to the item in the new status according to the Status permissions.

Please, note: Bulk Status Change works inconsistently with Conditional Workflow: wrong settings applied to workflow, when multiple transitions are available.

Bulk Download

User can download the files from the multiple items in a single operation. Selecting the items and pressing Bulk Download button will display a scrollable dropdown, where user can select the available Media Holders to download files from.

^{Download dropdown fuulscreen}

^{Download dropdown small screen}

Note, only the Mediaholders with enabled Download function and available to the user by access right will be shown.

The files will be downloaded as a single ZIP archive that contains files in a folder structure.

Max number of items to select

In Bulk Operations it is possible to select ALL items in Module to operate with. On this purpose, there is a checkbox in the Bulk Editing toolbar on the left.

Also ALL items can be selected at once by enabling corresponding checkbox in Grid/Split/Timeline view table header or by enabling "Select All" checkbox in Gallery/Kanban module view

The number of items to select is controlled by 2 parameters in System.properties file:

• numberOfItemsInBulkOperations.max — the max number of items available for bulk selection.

• numberOfItemsInBulkOperations.default — the default max number that will be applied to each new site until redefined in site settings. This can't be larger than numberOfItemsInBulkOperations.max.

By default, the max number is set to 1000 items for both parameters.

The admin user is able to redefine the MAX number of Items for selection per each site. It can be done in Site Configuration > Settings > Max Items In Bulk Operations.

Initially, this setting has a value specified in numberOfItemsInBulkOperations.default parameter and cannot be set to the value larger than numberOfItemsInBulkOperations.max.

Send Email on Bulk Operation

It is possible to configure the dedicated Action that will send email report about the operation with multiple items. Unlike the regular Send Email action that is triggered per item, it is triggered only once and can contain the aggregated data about the processed items. For example, it can be a link to the set of items in the system or generated Excel report file.

See the Send Email on Batch Operations Actions chapter for more details.

Download merged PDF

Note: Menu Elements are decommissioned for New UI in version 15 and replaced by Item Views

It is possible to download a merged PDF based on inline records so that user can view all pages at once.

Current functionality is available only for Inline records. So it is necessary to have Inline modules configured in order to enable it.

To configure Download merged PDF functionality:

1. Open Main Module in new UI > Module View Configuration > Add and Manage Views > Item Views

2. Configure Inline module in a tab, click 'Add inline Module' button from the bottom of the window

3. Enable Merge PDF

4. Select File field from the Inline module from "Media Holder for Merge PDF" field

   NOTE! Files from media holder selected on this steps will be included into merged pdf file

5. Select any field from "Filename prefix for Merge PDF" field

   NOTE! Field is not required. Leave this field empty to make PDF file generated with naming "Download_{date_time_stamp}" In case if any other value will be selected from the field, name of the generated file will use specified prefix, for ex. "{Name_field}_{date_time_stamp}", where {Name_field} will be replaced with value entered in "Name_field" from the first selected item.

6. Save changes

When configuration is done it can be used on New UI:

1. Go to inline module

2. Select all or multiple items

3. Bulk operations panel appears

4. Select "Download Merged PDF" button

5. PDF generation starts, progress bar is shown

6. Once merge is complete then file automatically downloads

7. Bulk operations panel is closed

Downloaded file includes only PDF files from selected items, if no file is present or not a PDF file (e.g. a video), then:

• for versions below 14.0.0 - empty page will be inserted.

• for version 14.0.0 and higher - such files will be ignored.

Page sort order in downloaded PDF corresponds with the sort order on UI.