Making bulk changes to your data

In this article:

Overview

Within LGL, you can make bulk updates to groups and categories for more than one constituent at a time, and you can make bulk updates to gift records within the same gift types. But bulk updating your data itself is another matter.

The only way you can update any field for multiple constituents (examples include phone, country, marital status, class affiliation, addresses, etc.) or update other record types such as Volunteer, Goal, Contact Report, Tasks, and Notes is to do so by hand or by:

  • Exporting the records you want to update
  • Making any changes in your export spreadsheet
  • Re-importing the updated data using the Flex Importer

Determine which fields to export

To do a bulk import, first export the data you want to change. This will typically include:

  • The field (or fields) you want to update
  • The LGL constituent ID
  • The ID for the data in the field/s you want to change, if one exists (for example, the “LGL Address ID” if you are updating the mailing address in multiple constituent records)

NOTE: If you were updating gifts, you’d export the LGL constituent ID and the LGL gift ID.

Here’s a list of IDs to include in your export if you’re updating any of the fields associated with them:

  • LGL Constituent ID 
  • LGL Address ID 
  • LGL Phone Number ID 
  • LGL Email Address ID 
  • LGL Gift ID 
  • LGL Task ID 
  • LGL Note ID 
  • LGL Contact Report ID
  • LGL Vol. Time ID

Create your export

Export your fields and save the export to your computer. (Read about how to create an export here.)

Update your export data

Open your export spreadsheet. Your task here is to update or add the data you want to change so that each row in your update column/s contain/s the correct information. Make all of your changes, and then proofread them to make sure each is accurate. What is in your updated cells will end up in the field/s you are updating.

Import your updated spreadsheet into LGL

Re-import your updates into LGL. Be sure you follow the mapping instructions for the specific type/s of date you are importing, which are available in this help article. The inclusion of the LGL field IDs in the import file enables a bulk update of the existing data in your LGL account rather than adding new records (if the ID is absent).

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