Using Bulk Update to change data

Bulk update allows you to update multiple records at once. You can bulk update Leads, Opportunities, Accounts, Contacts and Activities.

Updated over a week ago

Pipeliner allows you to make changes to batches of records at the same time using the Bulk Update feature so you can keep your data clean and up-to-date. In order to use Bulk Update, you need to have edit/update rights to all the records you want to change. These rights are based on your user role or because you are the Owner or an Editor of the records. You can create a filter and then update all records within your filtered list or select records “ad hoc” from the List View.

You can use Bulk Update to make changes to Leads, Opportunities, Accounts, Contacts, and Activities.

NOTE: There is no “undo” option for bulk updates so please be very careful about selecting the right records.

NOTE: Ownership changes are usually managed using the “Ownership” button and require users to have the enhanced Manager rights within their Sales Unit(s). See this article for more details. If you need to update Owner as part of a number of different field updates, you can also use “Bulk Update”.

NOTE: The List View is the best view to use when making any data updates.

How to use Bulk Update

Bulk Updates using a Filter

NOTE: This example is based on Accounts but use the exact same techniques in any main menu area in Pipeliner.

First, select your Filter criteria in the Filters tab of the Power Panel. See this article for an introduction to creating filters. Make a note of the number of records included in your filter — this is shown in the top right hand corner of Pipeliner next to the Views dropdown ⤵

From the Compact View, click on "Bulk Update" and then choose "All Visible" ⤵

Select the field, or fields, that you want to update by first selecting the checkbox in the top right corner of each field on the screen and then choose the value you want to apply to all of your selected records. You can update multiple fields at the same time.

NOTE: The number of records that will be updated is shown in the right hand panel of the Bulk Update screen. Make sure that this number is the same as the number of records included in your filter!

In this example, the "Type" field will be updated to “existing customer” and the Industry field will be updated to “Insurance” for the two records included in the selected filter ⤵

If you change your mind, you can remove fields individually by selecting the "X" or use the "Remove All Fields" option and start over.

Once you are sure about the fields you want to update and the values you want to apply, select Update to change the records.

You’ll be prompted to confirm your choices. Click on "Confirm" to proceed ⤵

Once the update is complete, you’ll be notified of the number of records updated ⤵

If any records are not able to be updated, you’ll be notified that records “Failed to Update” ⤵

Click on the “Edit” button to view the records that did not update and to find out why.
In this example, I didn’t have the rights to update these records as I’m not the owner ⤵

If you’re using the List View, click the checkbox in the top left corner to select "All Records" and then click on "Bulk Update" and then choose "Selected" ⤵

Select your fields and values, check the number of records and then click on "Update" and confirm your selection ⤵

Bulk Updates by selecting “ad hoc” records

Choose the "List View" and then tick each record that you want to update before you click on "Bulk Update" as before ⤵

Options available when using Bulk Update

For most fields — text input or dropdown, for example — when you use Bulk Update you are overwriting the existing data in the field with your new selection. For some specific field types though, you have additional options. 

If you select a multi select checkbox field or the Editors or Watchers fields you are able to choose from “Replace Existing” which will overwrite the existing data or “Add to Existing” which will add the values you select to whatever is already selected in that field.

If you choose a multiple currency field, you can choose to update the currency value itself and/or the currency code ⤵

Updating Calculated Fields

If you choose to update a field that is included as part of a calculation, when you click on the "Update" field, the confirmation screen will remind you that field values will be recalculated based on your selection.

In this example, the “Commission” custom/user-defined field — which is flagged as a calculated field in the Bulk Update screen — is dependant on the value selected in the "Commission (%)" field which is one of the fields to be bulk updated ⤵

Deleting data in fields using Bulk Update

If you select a field in the Bulk Update screen but then leave the value empty or blank, this will remove data from that field on all your selected records. When you click “Update”, the confirmation screen will prompt you that you have left fields empty and that this will delete any data in those fields.

In this example, I want to remove Editors from my Opportunity records so I have selected the "Editor" field and chosen "Replace Existing" but then left the field empty ⤵

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