I’m setting the tracking code for some of my transactions. It is impossible to do this within manager, as I’d have to go through everything one by one, and there is no spreadsheet-like edit functionality (eventhough this is perfectly possible).
So I did a batch update for payments/receipts. When I remove un-used columns, I’m eft with: Key, Lines.TrackingCode. All fine. So I paste the data in the box, save. Now all my transactions that I’ve edited this way have amounts set to 0 and accounts set to 0.
The batch update should NOT touch any of the fields which are not specified as a column.
Your statement is a little confusing. What is Batch Update if not a spreadsheet-like edit functionality?
That was your mistake. Hopefully, you read the Guide for detailed instruction on batch operations: https://www.manager.io/guides/9572. Nowhere does it mention removing columns. It explicitly says you can remove rows you are not updating. By removing columns, you are removing content in the database when you execute the update.
I expected this answer…
The “spreadsheet” functionality is in one of my other requests. Basically allow table-based editing of accounts/trackingcode/description/tax. Instead of screen-by-screen.
It actually also doesn’t say I shouldn’t remove, and it implies I can:
If columns are not understood, leave them blank. You can always edit them later.
For convenience, you can remove any rows you don’t need to update from the spreadsheet. You can also leave them in place, however. Do not remove or modify any content in the
Keycolumn for rows you keep.
There is no reason to update all non-existing fields to null / 0. Especially if you’re in a multi-user environment, the problem becomes worse. Another use-case is a batch update driven from an external application.
Please allow the removal of column. If it really is a problem, Manager should alert the user that not all columns are present in the import data, and that those columns will all be set to null / zero.
It says you can leave them blank. It says you can edit them later. Neither statement implies you can delete them. And, in fact, the later statement telling you that rows can be removed if not being updated should reinforce that. If columns could be removed, there would have been text stating so.
Nevertheless, an additional Caution statement was already added to the Guide after your first post to warn overly eager users. The web site will be automatically updated later today.
Ok thanks. Still I think it’s confusing, and it mass-deletes data without intention. Unexpected behavior for me, and I can assume for others. If I want the values to be empty, I’d leave the column and remove the data.