Changing / Editing Multiple Inventory Items

If you need to change a large number of items at once, there are two ways to do it:

1. You can change Item Default Values for specific Item Types. 

2. You can also export and import items if you need to change fields specifically on particular items. Read on for more information:

You can export the items you want to change, make the changes in a spreadsheet like Excel, Numbers of Google Sheets, then re-import the changed items.  

Online help exists at the top of the Export and Import pages for more specifics on exporting and importing.  This article will cover the basics though.

Important notes:

• You cannot currently undo changes. Once you export/import, your changes are permanent. We recommend keeping a copy of the unedited export file so you can re-import that if needed.
• The Item ID must remain consistent between export and import. This field is used as the key to determine which items you are changing.
• If you do not include an Item ID, a new item will be created.

When exporting with the intent to re-import, we recommend only exporting the items you need to work with - this will make both export and import faster, especially if you have a large inventory.

Exporting the items to change:

1. Go to Inventory -> Export
2. Uncheck "Export for Reporting Purposes"
3. Fields to Export: Select the fields to export. We recommend exporting any fields you wish to change, and fields like "Name" and Item Type to ensure you are working with the correct item:
4. Select Filters to limit the export by Type, Status, Location, or even Field Value. For example, if you want to export all items with "Current Sensor" in the Name field, you can specify to only export items with a Name that contains that term.
5. Click on the export button for the format you wish to export. We highly recommend you export in Excel. Excel and some other spreadsheets do not always import CSV properly.  This is especially true if your Item IDs start with leading 0's.

Editing in your spreadsheet: In your spreadsheet program, you can change things like the Item Name, Item Type, etc. Please note that if you are changing item types, the Item Type name you add to the spreadsheet should just include the Item Type name, e.g. "Laptop" and the whole hierarchy. Each item type on the myTurn platform has a unique name.

If you will be changing multiple rows in a spreadsheet like Excel, you can use "Search and Replace" or simply change the first item, then drag the handle to fill down the spreadsheet:

Save as CSV: After you have made your changes, use File -> Save As, and save the file as a "CSV" (or "CSV UTF8")

Import Your Changes:  To complete the changes, simply go to Inventory -> Import, and Import the file.  Depending on how many items you are changing, the import may take up to a few minutes. Once it completes you will be given a message to let you know how many items were updated, or a list of errors in the import.

You've now successfully updated your inventory.