Bulk Editing Contributors

Bulk Edit lets you make the same change to many contributors at once from the Contributors grid in Auction Conductor. Use it for bulk changes such as adding a contributor type, marking a set of guests as VIPs or putting several people at the same table, instead of opening each record one at a time.

This article covers:

Where to find Bulk Edit
Selecting contributors
Fields you can change
Making a bulk change
Groups and households

Where to find Bulk Edit

Bulk Edit is part of the Contributors grid in Auction Conductor.

Selecting contributors

Bulk Edit only changes the contributors you select, so narrow the grid to the right people first.

Use the Search box to find people by name, bidder number, company, group, email or phone.
Use the grid filters, such as Group, to show only the contributors you want.

Then select the contributors you want to change.

See one row per person. In the Individual/Company display mode, the grid shows one row for each contributor, even for people who belong to a household or group. That makes it easy to see exactly who you've selected. For more on display modes, see Grid Controls.

Fields you can change

For each field, you can add a value to every selected contributor or remove a value from them. Fields you can change include:

Company/Individual
Contributor types (add or remove a type)
Salutation
Name
Company name and Website
Number of people (#ppl)
Imported Ticket Paid Status
VIP
Table
Group
Affiliation
Meal
Custom field answers (both unique to this event, and across all events)
Notes for Check-In
Notes from Check-Out
Hidden Notes

Contributor types do more than label people. For example, the Attending and Online types are tied to bidder numbers: Attending guests get 3- or 4-digit numbers and Online contributors get 5-digit numbers. If you're not sure how a type change will affect your event, check with your AES event manager before you apply it to a large group.

Making a bulk change

In Auction Conductor, go to Contributors.
Search and filter the grid, then select the contributors you want to change.
Click Bulk Edit.
Choose the field to change and whether to add or remove a value, then enter or choose the value.
Save the change. It's applied to every contributor you selected.
Spot-check a few of the updated records in the grid to make sure the change looks right.

Changes apply to everyone you selected. Check your selection before you save. If you're changing a field such as a table assignment, look first for selected contributors who already have a value you want to keep.

Keep a record first. Before a large change, you can save the current values by exporting the grid to Excel or CSV with the Export button. The export includes only what the grid is showing (your search, filters, sorting and current page), so set those up first.

Groups and households

Groups

A group is the set of contributors under one purchase, such as a host and the guests on their tickets. Groups are separate from company names. The Group filter makes it easy to select everyone in a group, for example to mark them all as VIPs.

Use the Group Detail screen to add or remove group members, move people between groups, assign a new group host or assign group members to tables. See Contributor Groups.

Households

A household is two or more contributors who share purchases, bids and payments, with one billing contact. Households have their own management screen:

To create a household, click the person icon on a contributor's row in the Contributors grid.
To change an existing household's members or billing contact, click the household name in the grid to open it.

See Contributor Households.

Frequently asked questions

Can I use Bulk Edit after the auction closes? Yes.
Will my changes affect other events? Contributor types, affiliations and households are set separately for each event, so those changes stay in this event. Contact details, such as the company name, address, email, phone, belong to the contributor's contact record, so if that record is also used in another event, the change shows there too.
I have two records for the same person. Should I edit both? Merge them instead. Merging combines their bids, purchases, payments and cards on file into one record. See Merging Duplicate Contributors.