If you are looking to save some time when updating multiple records, you'll probably want to check out the Bulk Actions feature! This is designed for you to select multiple records and then apply updates to them in a single action. You'll find it available all around Farmbrite, including your crops, animals, equipment, accounting, market, and more! You might use the to record treatments on your plantings, measurements and yields for your animals, or note and tasks for your equipment. The concept for any of these is the same, and if you learn how to use it in one area, you'll find the others to be very similar. We'll outline each section below, but let's learn the basics first.
No matter what area you choose, you'll simply select the records you want to update by checking their selection boxes, and then use the bulk actions tool to make the changes. This workflow and behavior is the same for any of the separate areas outlined below.
You should be aware of the following important information about using this feature.
- You can select up to 100 records to work with at once.
- All 100 records must be on the same page. If you have more records than fit on one page, you might consider setting filters first. You could filter you animals page by status, keywords, or animal type, your transactions by date, or your equipment by type and status to find just the ones you want to update on a single page.
We'll start with an Equipment in the example below, as regardless of the type of farm business you operate, you'll likely have equipment to help you! We're on the main Equipment page and select a few of our older farm trucks that need an inspection and tune up. Note that you also have the option to Select All, and clicking that option again will Deselect All. You can also use the checkbox at the top of the column to select/deselect all as well. After choosing the right records, we can add a note or a task. These records are created separately for each of the three selected records.
We will go over all the unique bulk update options in the individual sections below, but know that the feature works the same way on each page, just with different options for what you can do.
Livestock Bulk Actions
Navigate to the main Livestock page, and you'll be able to set your filters and select your records. There are many different actions you can accomplish here, including basic ones like creating notes and tasks. You can also perform more livestock specific actions, like adding treatments, feedings, or inputs. For these, be aware that you are adding the amount fed/applied to each animal individually, not the total to the selected animals. The bulk actions feature creates individual records for each animal selected.
You can also add measurements or yields to each animal. These are somewhat unique, as you can add weights and harvest amounts unique for each animal you select. You'll see the different weights we add to our Water Buffalos in our image below.
Breeding actions are available too, including creating the breeding records or recording pregnancy checks. You can also update their grazing location of an animal, or sell them if you need. If you use the bulk select to sell, the animals will be grouped together in a single transaction/bill of sale.
You can also edit the selected animals in one action. You can use this to change any of the standard fields like sex or breed, neutered status, dam and sire genealogy, weaning dates, method acquired, and more. You can even update your custom fields here as well. Of course, it's important to realize that the changes apply to all selected animals so the changes must be applicable to all of them.
This same bulk actions feature is available within you Smart and Basic groups, on your Grazing Location summaries showing all of the animals in a field.
Planting and Grow Location Bulk Actions
You can update your plantings in bulk from a Grow Location, or from a crop type. These might be useful in different ways. For example, you might bulk update from a grow location if you added nutrients or a treatment to various different crop types in a single bed or field. Alternatively, you might use the option under a crop type if you are harvesting multiple plantings of the same crop at the same time. Note that you cannot bulk harvest different crop types at once from a grow location. Like Livestock, you can also bulk add notes or tasks to your plantings as well.
Market Bulk Actions
You'll have two options for bulk actions under the Market second. You can select your Products and update their status and the quantity your have available for sale for each of them. Additionally, under Orders, you can use the bulk actions to mark the orders as complete.
Additional Bulk Actions
You'll find this same tool available in other sections of the software too.
- You can bulk update Accounting Transactions to edit their category, payee/customer, associated record, or keywords. Note that you must select the same type of transaction to accomplish this; e.g. only expenses or only income transactions, as the categories available differ between the two types.
- Timesheets can be updated to be marked approved, locked, or marked complete. This can help you save time at the end of a week when hours are due.
- For Contacts, you can bulk update them to add notes. Perhaps you made a few new friends at a Farmers Market and want to take a quick note about your interactions.
Bulk Deleting Records
You may have noticed that the Bulk Actions menu has a large red Delete button as well. We have a separate article regarding this that we encourage you to explore. You can absolutely delete records in bulk, and it's important to understand that once a record is deleted, it cannot be brought back. The deletion is permanent. We've added steps to confirm the bulk delete before it processes, and limited this feature to only Admin and Manager roles to reduce accidental deletions, but be careful when using this feature! If you have any hesitation about deleting the records, or think there is a chance you might need this information in the future, we encourage you to download the records first so you have a reference for them. Be aware that we have designed this feature to be used to remedy mistakes, and not for a "system cleanup". We discourage you from removing old data in the process, as we think it's better to retain it for historical references. Want your Livestock list to look cleaner? Think about setting filters on the page for status instead.