This blog post is the second in a series that will showcase great OCA modules. The goal is to make the Odoo world aware of the awesome features built by the OCA contributors over the last 10 years and to publicly thank them for their amazing work and dedication.
The first modules were selected by the OCA functional working group based on their expertise in Odoo implementation. We also thank them for their contributions!
Would you like to share your “best” OCA modules and see them featured in the next blog post? Contact us!
Have you ever been in a situation where you needed to add, modify or delete values in several records and thought it would be much easier to select all the values directly, rather than doing it one by one?
Thanks to the "Mass Editing" module from OCA, you can add, update or delete values in several records on the fly, at the same time and on any model in Odoo.
Module history: from Odoo version 6!
The module first appeared in version 6 under the name "mass_editing" in the ‘server-tools’ repository. The module was added by Serpent Consulting Services, Tecnativa, GRAP and Ivan Todorovich. Since Odoo V16, the module was renamed ‘server_action_mass_edit’ and was moved to the ‘server-ux’ repository. Since its creation, many people have worked to improve and migrate the module, which is available in all versions between V6 and V17 of Odoo.
Although since version 13 the Odoo standard offers some mass editing options, this module allows more possibilities such as the possibility to :
mass edit many fields in a single action
add a group to limit the usage of this function to given people
filter the items the user can mass update
mass edit any fields with any widget. (For example colour fields, image fields, etc...)
This is another example of how OCA module innovations can enhance Odoo usability ahead of standard evolutions, and continue to deliver more functionalities.
Given that many databases use older versions of Odoo, and the fact that this module offers more than the Odoo standard can provide, this module is very interesting for facilitating the day-to-day use of Odoo.
Use Case and Demo
You can also find a video showing the process: click here.
Let's say we want to mass-edit a series of data about some contacts: add a parent company, change the country and delete phone numbers that are no longer accurate.
Thanks to the mass editing module, we can modify all this information on several contacts at once, with just a few clicks. Let's take a look at how it works…
Firstly, to configure the mass editing module, go to Settings > Technical > Actions > Server Actions and configure the objects and fields you want to update in bulk. Do not forget to choose the Mass Edit Records’s type.
In the Allowed Groups, you can determine which groups will have access to this feature, and thus restrict its use to the desired groups.
Then, when everything is set up as you need, click on the “Create Contextual Action”’ button to add the mass editing feature in the ‘Action’ menu. Note that by clicking on the Message tab, you can add a comment that will be displayed in the wizard.
Let's see what it looks like in our "Contacts" module
Tips: refresh your browser page in order to see the Mass Edit Action Menu.
By selecting the contacts I wish to update and by clicking on the ‘Action’ button, I have access to the ‘Mass edit on Contacts’ button that I just created. I see the various fields to be modified, as I configured them earlier.
For each field, you can decide to either not touch, set or remove the value. By clicking on Apply, my changes will be applied to the selected contacts.
We hope this module will help you to get the most out of your Odoo database! Spread the word about this!
Thank you to the contributors
Thanks again to :
Serpent Consulting Services Pvt. Ltd. (contact@serpentcs.com)
Tecnativa (tecnativa.com)
GRAP (grap.coop)
Iván Todorovich https://github.com/ivantodorovich
And the other contributors :
Oihane Crucelaegi
Jay Vora (https://github.com/JayVora-SerpentCS)
Juan Negrete (https://www.linkedin.com/in/negrete-juan/ - Juan worked on this module while he was working at at Casasalce)
Raul Martin
Aitor Bouzas
Sylvain LE GAL (https://fosstodon.org/@legalsylvain)
Jairo Llopis (https://github.com/yajo)
Víctor Martínez
Tatiana Deribina
This blog post was written by Marie Verzin, part of the Acsone Team and reviewed by the OCA consultants working group and Rebecca Gellatly. Thanks again!
Discover the first article of this series
How to make an advanced search in Odoo? Do you know web_advanced_search?
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