Bulk edit multiple files

The more assets in your Files library, the more valuable it becomes to manage them efficiently. Bulk editing allows you to save precious time and streamline your workflow. With bulk editing, you can simultaneously update the following properties for files: release and expiration dates, authors, tags, locale settings, permissions, and optimization. You can also archive files and unlink external files.

By leveraging bulk editing capabilities, you can maintain an organized and up-to-date library with minimal effort.

See how it looks

Key features

• Save time by eliminating repetitive updates
• Maintain uniform standards and minimize errors
• Apply tags to multiple files quickly
• Update permissions for multiple files simultaneously
• Adjust author names in bulk when ownership changes

You need this to succeed

The quick way

1. In the Libraries tab, navigate to All files
2. Select the files you want to edit
3. Click Edit
4. Update the desired properties
5. Click Save changes

Do this step by step

Select and edit files

Note: When a selection of assets contains one or more files globally shared from another Division, not all actions will be permitted.

1. Navigate to the Libraries tab. If your organization uses multiple Divisions, select the desired one from the top-left dropdown menu.
2. Click All Files in the the left side menu.
3. Select either:
   
   • Individual checkboxes next to the name.
   • The all items checkbox in the top bar to select all files on the page you’re viewing.
     
     • To select all items in your library, click Select all items.
4. In the top bar, you’ll see the number of selected items and available actions.
   • To unlink selected files synced from an external source, click Unlink external files and confirm on the pop-up.
   • To move the selected files to the Archived Files library, click Archive and confirm on the pop-up.
   • If you’ve copied tags assigned to a file, you can paste them to all the selected files by clicking Paste tags.
     • Select Add to existing to add the pasted tags to the tags already assigned to the selected files. The tags appear in green.
     • Select Replace all to remove the tags currently assigned to the selected files and replace them with the pasted tags. A message will appear, click Click here to see the list of tags that will be replaced. The tags appear in yellow.
     • Click Save changes.
   • Click Edit to open the sidebar for bulk editing.
     
     • For the selected items, you can perform multiple actions per property:
       
       • Keep as is: Retain the current properties.
       • Replace all: Select and search for a new property to apply.
       • Add new: Add a new property to the selected items.
       • Find and remove: Remove a specific property if it applies to any of the selected items.
       • Remove all: Remove all properties from the selected items.
   • Update the properties in the sidebar. Click Save changes.

Note: While editing your selection, the checkboxes to select more files are greyed out. Close the details panel to add more to your selection.

Overview

Schedule when the selected files are available to your users and assign who will manage them.

• Released on: Change the release date. If the release date has not been reached yet, the content will not be visible to users.
• Expires on: Change the expiration date. Expired content is removed from Experiences and is greyed out in Collections and Shared Spaces.
• Author(s): By default, the person who uploads the content becomes the author. This option lets you modify who manages and owns the content. You can add multiple authors.

Tags

Bulk edit assigned tags to make the content easier to manage, find, and organize.

When up to 100 files are selected, all tags assigned to the assets are displayed. Bulk editing over 100 files provides property-changing options with visual indicators for new and changed tags.

Up to 100 files selected:

• All tags assigned to the selected files are displayed below the search field. To the right of each tag is the number of files it's assigned to.
• To create a new tag to add to all the selected files, type in the field and press the Enter key. The number of tags assigned to all selected files is indicated in the search field. Click the X next to it to remove all tags assigned to all Files.
• Click the search field to search and select from the list of existing tags.
  • A dash indicates the tags assigned to some, but not all, selected files.
  • To assign a tag to all selected files, click the box next to it. A checkmark indicates the tags assigned to all selected files. Newly assigned tags appear in green.
  • To remove a tag from all selected files, click the checked box next to it. Or click the X next to the tag.

More than 100 files selected:

• Choose an action from the dropdown menu.
  • Keep as is: do not change tag assignments.
  • Replace all: Search and select tags to replace all the existing assigned tags. The tags appear in yellow below the search field.
  • Add new: Create or search and select tags to assign. The tags appear in green below the search field.
  • Find and remove: Search and select tags to remove. The tags appear in red below the search field.
  • Remove all: Remove all assigned tags from selected files.

Locale

The locale property is used to display content relevant to users' language and location.

• Languages: Select the language for the selected items. You can add multiple languages.
• Country: Specify the country or region where the content will be used.

Permissions

Permit the selected content to be shared and secured. Choose to make content available in all libraries or only in their current library. Changes will only apply to files that support the changed permission, such as files local to the Division you’re working in.

Learn more about file permissions from this article.

Note: Permission settings can be modified more granularly when selecting a single file.

Optimization

Showpad optimizes your videos, images and PDF files for optimal usage in our apps and plugins. You can provide the full resolution file to your users by toggling off this option.