Dec 16, 2019

Pitfall in bulk edit

Bulk edit is a very useful mechanism in Dynamics CRM/365 platform. This simply the ability of modifying more than one value at once. Anyway, there is a hidden pitfall where many users face issues. In this article I am simply trying to illustrate this as below;

For example I am trying to update below 5 records. So I am selecting them and clicking edit.


So I get below form with relevant fields. Suppose I only need to update Business Phone. So I only have to input new value and save. Please notice, we don't see any value for other fields.


Now I see our new value has been updated in all 5 records which is the expected out come. Pretty cool.


Now try to do the same operation (select all the records and click edit). This time I am populating Account Name lookup field. Then I change my mind and remove that value.


Once remove we can only see Business Phone field with our new values.


Once save, you will notice all the Company Name fields have been vanished !


Obviously, this is not a good user experience. Please make sure you understand this behavior before jump into Bulk Edit feature. If you are a trainer, please make sure you educate your audience with this tricky behavior. Hopefully, Microsoft will fix this in a coming release. Until then, play safe!