Batch Editing Items

Batch editing allows you to simultaneously edit the fields that exist in multiple selected items. For example, you could change the assigned group for multiple items from Development to QA.

For single-valued fields, such as a project field, batching editing replaces the original content of a field with new content.

For multi-valued fields, specifically, pick, user, group, item backed picklist (IBPL), and relationship fields, you can:

• replace all existing field values with new field values

• add new field values

• remove existing field values

Before you batch edit items, ensure that you have the following:

• Permissions to edit the item type and relevant fields.

• If you are batch editing the Assigned User or Assigned Group fields, the list of users and groups you can select from is restricted to the allowed users and groups that are common to the listed projects.

• If you are batch editing the Project field, make sure the new project is one that the Assigned User has permission for; otherwise, he or she cannot edit the item.

• In the GUI, you can add related items and attachments to multiple items.

• If you replace the original content of a field with new content and your administrator enables logging for that field, the new content is appended to the original content.

• Before you can batch edit items to change a state, you must first batch edit the mandatory fields that allow a state change. For example, if the Root Cause is a mandatory field for changing the state from Accept to Schedule, you must batch edit this field before batch editing the state.

• If a batch edit causes an item change that requires an electronic signature, the batch edit fails.

• When batch editing items, it is possible for two or more users to add information to the items, make changes that have no impact on one another’s edits, or select values that conflict with one another. For more information on resolving editing conflicts, see “Resolving Conflicts When Editing an Item”.

• You cannot select inactive values for user, group, project, or pick list fields. If a selected value becomes inactive and the field remains untouched during an item edit, the inactive value persists. If you modify the field with the inactive value, you must change it to an active value.

• You cannot perform the following edits in a batch edit:

• If the mksis.im.preValidateConstrainedPickFieldValuesInBatchEdit property is enabled for the server, the following key considerations apply in the client GUI:

◦ If you select only IBPL fields with IBPL constraints for a batch edit, the server pre-validates all constrained values, and valid values for the IBPL fields are displayed.

◦ If you select multiple fields with different constraints for a batch edit, the constrained values that are common for the multiple fields are displayed.

For more information on the mksis.im.preValidateConstrainedPickFieldValuesInBatchEdit property, see Workflow and Document Configuration Properties in the Database.