How to update many assets at once

Requirements

• Roles: Owner or Admin for imports. Managers can update assets individually.

The approaches

Filter and edit

For a small number, filter the asset list to exactly the assets you want and work through them.

Filter state is part of the URL, so you can bookmark the working set and come back to it.

Export, edit, re-import

For larger changes:

1. Filter the asset list to the assets you want to change.
2. Export them.
3. Edit the columns you need to change in a spreadsheet.
4. Create any new categories, locations, or departments the file references — they are matched, not created.
5. Choose the right importer — Individual Assets, Asset Stock, or Consumables. Each accepts only its own columns, so start from that importer's template.
6. Import ten rows as a test. Fix anything that fails.
7. Import the rest.

Warning Import creates assets. It is not an update-in-place operation keyed on an existing record. Re-importing rows for assets that already exist will create duplicates.

Use this route for adding records, and for genuinely large restructures where you are prepared to reconcile afterwards. For changing existing records, filter and edit is safer.

Bulk check-out

To check many assets out to one person, add them to the checkout cart from the asset list and check them all out in a single action.

See How to check out an asset.

Bulk creation

Duplicate for several near-identical assets — it sets a number of copies and optionally carries images and documents across.

CSV import for a large batch or an existing inventory.

Through the API

(Odyssey and above)

If updates come from another system on a regular basis, the integration API covers asset creation, assignment changes, maintenance records, and geo-position updates.

That is the right answer for anything recurring — a monthly spreadsheet round-trip is a process waiting to go wrong.

Before any bulk operation

Export first. You then have a record of the previous state to compare against.

Test on ten rows. Ten tells you everything a thousand would.

Check the timeline afterwards. Every change writes to the asset timeline, so you can see exactly what happened.

Common mistakes

Re-importing an export to "update" records. That creates duplicates.

Not creating referenced records first. Categories, locations, departments, statuses, and users are matched, not created.

Skipping the test batch. A thousand-row import with a formatting error is a thousand rows to sort out.

Bulk-changing status instead of archiving. If assets are out of service permanently, archive them — that removes them from active lists, reporting, and alerts, and it is reversible.

Troubleshooting

I can't import. Importing needs Owner or Admin.

I created duplicates. Archive the duplicates. Assets are never hard-deleted, so archiving is the clean way to remove them from active use.

Some rows failed. See How to fix CSV import errors.

"Your subscription has expired." An expired subscription blocks creating new records. Existing data stays readable.

Related articles

• How to import assets from CSV
• How to export your data
• CSV import column and error reference
• How to duplicate an asset
• How to move assets between locations
• Getting started with the REST API