A bulk change runs one operation on many records of the same type at once. Rhythm offers two bulk changes: a mass update, which changes one or more fields on each record you select, and a mass delete, which removes each record you select. This article explains what Rhythm does after you choose records and before you see the results, so you know what to expect before you commit.
Why Bulk Changes Exist
Updating records one at a time takes time and creates more chances for mistakes. Use a bulk change when you need to fix a mistyped chapter code on two thousand contacts, fill a field you just created, or apply corrections from another system’s spreadsheet. You set up the change, review a preview, confirm it, and let Rhythm run the work.
Mass Update, Mass Delete, Custom Data Tasks, and Imports
| Operation | What it does | Where you start it |
|---|---|---|
| Mass update | Updates fields on records that already exist. If Rhythm cannot match a row or identifier to an existing record, it marks that item as not found and does not create a record. | System & Security › Mass Updates, or Bulk Changes › Mass Update beside query results and search results |
| Mass delete | Permanently removes records that already exist. | System & Security › Mass Deletes, or Bulk Changes › Mass Delete beside query results and search results |
| Custom data task | Runs a processing task Rhythm built for you against an uploaded file. Depending on how Rhythm built the task, it can create, change, or delete records. | System & Security › Custom Data Tasks |
A mass update never creates records. To add new records from a file, use a custom data task, such as the general Import Records task. Use Import Records to bulk-import organizations too, because the contact-focused import tools do not import organizations the same way.
A custom data task is a reusable import setup Rhythm builds for your Rhythm account’s data. Depending on how Rhythm built it, the task can create records, update existing ones, apply several coordinated changes across related records, or delete records. You can run the task again whenever you have a new file. Contact your Customer Success Manager to set one up.
Two common built-in kinds are Import Records and Contacts/Memberships. Import Records imports a spreadsheet into any table. Contacts/Memberships reads each row, matches a contact by ID or email, creates the contact when none matches, then creates or updates the membership from the values in that row. A more complex custom data task can carry conditional logic across several services in one run, such as finding a record and creating it only if it is missing, then creating related records and transactions from the same row.
Custom data tasks cover several common bulk-creation needs:
- Importing contacts yourself: from System & Security › Custom Data Tasks, choose Import, select the Contacts & Org application and the Contacts service, then provide a file of contact data. The Import Records and Contacts service can also bulk-import contacts and link each one to an organization that already exists in Rhythm.
- Uploading contacts and assigning membership types in the same task.
- Creating applications in bulk when you collect information through an external form instead of a direct integration. Import the collected data and create the applications with a custom data task instead of entering them one by one.
- Creating course registrations in bulk when a bundle does not create the enrollment itself. Upload a spreadsheet with fields such as user name, contact ID, course name, course type, and registration details.
- Uploading session dates, times, and rooms in bulk through Import Records. If that option is not available in your Custom Data Tasks area, ask Rhythm to enable it.
One built-in task, Address Change, has a narrow purpose. When a record’s Mail Address Last Modified Date is later than its Rhythm Last Modified Date, the task updates only that record’s address and email fields. Use a mass update for other fields on existing records.
After Rhythm sets up a custom data task’s import, its spreadsheet template and field types are fixed. You cannot change them later, although review during setup may still identify additional required fields.
If you want one view of member activity across Rhythm and other systems your organization uses, use Association Analytics or a data export instead of feeding that outside activity into Rhythm through custom data tasks.
What Happens When You Run a Bulk Change
flowchart LR
A[Choose the record type] --> B[Choose the records]
B --> C[Say what changes]
C --> D[Preview spreadsheet]
D --> E[Tick the acknowledgement and commit]
E --> F[Runs in the background]
F --> G[Counts and results spreadsheet]
- You choose the record type and the records. Select the record type, then choose every record of that type, provide a list of record IDs, use an expression that selects matching records, or upload a spreadsheet. If you start from a list, tick the records you want.
- You say what changes. For an update, choose fields and give each one a fixed value or an expression, or map spreadsheet columns to fields. For a delete, you do not choose fields.
- Rhythm builds a preview. Rhythm checks each record and creates a downloadable spreadsheet showing what the change would do. The preview does not change any records.
- You confirm and commit. The commit button stays disabled until you tick the acknowledgement box saying you downloaded and reviewed the preview.
- The work runs in the background. Rhythm sends changes to the application that owns the records in batches of one hundred, with several batches running at the same time.
- You see the outcome. The last step shows how many records succeeded, how many had errors, and the total, along with a link to a results spreadsheet. You can also ask for the results by email.
The Preview Is a Check, Not a Lock
The preview shows what the change would do at the moment you create it. When you commit, Rhythm selects the records and works out the changes again from your setup; it does not replay the preview. If records changed after the preview, or if new records now match your expression or “all records” selection, Rhythm uses the current records and values. That means the results can differ from the preview. For a delete, Rhythm also deletes a record added after the preview when that record matches the selection.
Changes Are Applied by the Owning Application, as You
Rhythm does not write another application’s records directly. It sends each planned change, with your identity, to the application that owns the record, such as Membership for memberships or CRM for contacts. That application validates and writes each record, then reports one outcome for each one: success, no change, or error.
If the application rejects a record because a value has the wrong format, or because other records depend on a record you are deleting, that record appears as an error in the results and the other records continue. Rhythm handles each record separately, so part of a bulk change can succeed while other records fail. The results spreadsheet, not the preview, is the record of what actually happened.
Records with Nothing to Change Are Skipped
For an update, Rhythm leaves out a field when both the current value and the new value are empty. If none of the fields on a record would change, Rhythm skips the whole record and does not send it to the owning application. In the results spreadsheet, skipped records keep the status Ready For Execution, and Rhythm does not count them.
That means you cannot use a mass update to “resave” records by writing the same values back to them. Rhythm never sends records with nothing to change, so nothing happens to them.
Clearing a linked field, such as a contact’s organization, depends on how the record reached Rhythm. On a record created directly in Rhythm, the underlying value is cleared. On some imported records, only the displayed name clears while the underlying identifier does not. After you clear a link on imported records, check the underlying value, not just what the page shows.
If you still have data imports planned before go-live, wait until after your final import to run a derived bulk update, such as a field calculated from other data. Running it earlier risks a later import overwriting your work or forcing you to redo it.
A Bulk Change Cannot Be Undone
You cannot undo a completed mass update or mass delete. The delete wizard warns you before you commit, and the update wizard does not, but the same rule applies to both. The preview and results spreadsheets are the only record of prior values.
For an update, if you kept a copy of the preview, you can restore values by hand by running a new file-driven mass update from the Old columns. You cannot restore deleted records this way.
Treat saved values as a snapshot from the moment Rhythm captured them. If a record changed again after that snapshot, restoring from the old preview or results file can put back a value that no longer matches what should be on the record now.
Warning
Download and keep the preview before you commit. If you run another preview or another run for the same record type on the same day, Rhythm replaces the earlier file.
What Rhythm Does Not Do for You
- Rhythm does not stop two bulk changes from touching the same records. Each record ends with the change that reaches it last.
- Rhythm does not check whether someone else edited a record while the run was in progress. The bulk change overwrites that edit.
- If a run reaches its time limit or hits an error partway through, the records already written stay written. The run can still end on the completion step, with missing or partial counts and no results file.
See the full list in Bulk Operation Limits and Safety Rules.