As part of the regular maintenance of your Dynamics 365 data there are a number of situations in which you will want to edit multiple records at a time.

Bulk Editing Best Practices

We recommend the following best practices when bulk editing data in Dynamics 365:

• Prior to making mass updates, take a backup of the data you are changing by exporting the existing data to Excel.
• Filter the records and field down to just what you want to edit. This minimizes the risk of accidentally updating fields you do not want to edit.
• When using the Excel online method (below), do any editing, sorting and filtering in another external spreadsheet, not directly in Excel online. Then paste your results back into Dynamics. There are three hidden columns that contain a unique identifier for each record that need to remain in that order.

There are two main out-of-the-box ways to edit data within Dynamics 365: through the Edit button and using Export to Excel online.

Edit Button

This method works well for end users that want to modify a small number of records (up to 250) at a time. It's important to know that the window mirrors the form so it's only possible to edit fields that are visible in the main form. Another limitation to this method is that you cannot bulk edit certain field types, such as multi-selection option sets. If a yes/no field is represented by a checkbox, you cannot use this method to set the value on multiple records to "no."

To bulk edit with the edit button, follow these steps:

1. Select multiple records
2. Click the Edit button
3. Modify the fields you want to edit
4. Click the Change button

Note: In previous versions of Dynamics you could not change the owner or parent account fields using the Edit button, however these fields are now available using this method.

Excel Online

This method is best for scenarios where you want to modify a large number of records (over 250) or you would like to modify fields that are not visible on the main form. A limitation of this method is that since the data is presented in Excel, you cannot search for existing lookup values. They must already exist in Dynamics and you must paste the text value of the lookup in order for the update to be successful.

To use the excel online method, follow these steps:

1. Navigate to the view of the records you want to edit
2. Click Export to Excel in the command bar
3. Select Excel Online
4. Modify the fields you want to edit 
5. Click the Save Changes to Dynamics button