Bulk Task Smasher: Set up and run Create, Update, and Delete bulk actions

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Learn how to use bulk actions in Bulk Task Smasher that are set up using a job template: the Create, Update, and Delete actions.

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Before you begin

• This article provides instructions on how how to use the Create, Update, and Delete bulk actions within Bulk Task Smasher. If you're looking for more general information about using Bulk Task Smasher, including what the app does and how to install it, please see the article Bulk Task Smasher: User Guide.
• To follow the instructions in this article, you must either:
  • Be a member of the Account Administrators user group in the Uberflip account where you are using Bulk Task Smasher, or
  • Have the appropriate permissions to use any or all of the bulk actions described in this article.

 

About the Create, Update, and Delete bulk actions

The majority of available bulk actions in Bulk Task Smasher are set up using a job template, which is a specially formatted spreadsheet file. This includes:

• All Create bulk actions
• All Update bulk actions
• All Delete/Remove bulk actions, except special bulk actions.

The basic procedure for setting up and running a bulk action that uses a job template is:

1. Select the resource you want to work with, and the bulk action you want to perform on it
2. Configure and download the corresponding job template
3. Fill out the job template
4. Upload the completed job template to Bulk Task Smasher and submit the job for processing

This procedure is the same for all bulk actions that use a job template except the Create Flipbooks/PDFs bulk action, which differs slightly.

You can find detailed instructions for both variations of this procedure below.

 

Set up and run a Create, Update, or Delete bulk action

Step 1: Select the resource and bulk action

1. Open Bulk Task Smasher and go to the Run Jobs section of the app.
2. Use the Resource dropdown menu to choose the type of Uberflip resource you'd like to work with:
   
3. Next, use the Action dropdown to choose the type of bulk action (Create, Update, or Delete) that you'd like to perform on the selected resource:
   
4. You'll now see a description of the selected resource and action combination:
   

From here, you can:

• Download a job template, if you are just starting to set up this bulk action, or
• Upload a job template, if you have already filled out the job template and are ready to run the bulk action

Step 2: Configure and download the job template

1. After you have selected the resource and bulk action you want to use, click on Download Job Templates:
   
2. You'll now see more information about how this template works, as well as the checkboxes to set up the job template's headers:
   
3. Use the checkboxes to choose which of the available column headers will be included in the downloaded file:
   • Bulk Task Smasher will pre-fill the top row of the job template with the headers that you select here. Select (check) a checkbox to include that header in the downloaded template, or deselect (uncheck) a checkbox to remove that column header.
   • Checkboxes that are disabled (greyed out) represent mandatory headers that are required in the job template to perform the selected bulk action, so they can't be removed.
   • All other headers are optional, and you can freely add or remove them depending on what you want to do as part of the bulk action. For example, if you are performing a Create Stream bulk action, check the box for the description header if you want to specify a description for each Stream, or uncheck that box if you don't want to specify Stream descriptions as part of the bulk action.
   • If a header name is marked with an asterisk (e.g. item*), this means that you can add this header to the job template multiple times to specify multiple values (e.g. you can use the item* header multiple times in a Create Stream job template to add multiple Items to the Stream). When you select this type of header, click on the Edit (pencil) icon that appears beside it to specify how many instances of the header you want to add:
     
   • Use the Select All and Clear buttons to quickly check or uncheck all available optional headers.
4. Click on the download button to download your template as configured. The options available depend on the type of bulk action you chose:
   • For Create and Delete bulk actions, you can download a Blank Template, which is empty except for the column headers you selected:
     
   • For Update bulk actions, you choose between either a Blank Template, which is empty, or a Populated Template, which is pre-filled with data from your Uberflip account. For Update bulk actions, the Populated Template is the default option:
     

     

5. The job template file will be downloaded, and you can find it in your Downloads folder.
   
   • The filenames for all job templates generated by Bulk Task Smasher use the format [Bulk Action] [Template Type] - YYYY-MM-DD HH.MM.SS AM/PM.xlsx, e.g. Update Streams Populated Template - 2022-01-31 12.45.10 PM.xlsx.
   • When you download a Populated Template, Bulk Task Smasher must first gather the data from your Uberflip account to populate the template. If you have a lot of data in your Uberflip account, this process may take a few moments to complete before the download begins.

Step 3: Fill out the job template

1. Open the downloaded job template file in your spreadsheet application of choice.
2. Fill out the job template as needed:
   • Remember that each line represents a separate instance of the selected Uberflip resource (i.e. each line represents an individual Stream, Item, user, tag, or Flipbook/PDF) to which the selected action (create, update, delete) will be applied:
     
   • The header above each column indicates the type of information that you must enter in that column on each line. Note that you must enter a value on every line for required headers, but under non-required headers, entering a value on any given line is optional.
   • To erase the existing value for a given property (e.g. description), you must set the value to null (rather than leaving it blank) in the template.
   • To help you, every job template includes a How To Use This Template sheet. Refer to this sheet for explanations of what each header does, what type of data it needs, and whether it is required; as well as example values for each header:
     

     

3. When you're done, save the job template to a location where you'll be able to find it later.

Step 4: Upload the job template and submit the job

1. Return to Bulk Task Smasher and select the resource and bulk action again (if necessary).
2. Click on Upload Job Templates:
   
3. Click on Upload File, and select the job template file you created.
   • If the file has multiple sheets, the app will prompt you to select the sheet that contains the bulk action instructions you want to use. Use the dropdown to select the sheet, then click on Confirm Sheet:
     
4. Bulk Task Smasher will analyze the uploaded file, and will display a preview, as well as any errors it has detected. Check the preview to ensure that you have uploaded the correct file, and to determine if there are any errors that need to be corrected before the file can be processed:
   
5. When you have verified that you have uploaded the correct file and that it contains no errors, click on Submit Job. You will see a confirmation window that summarizes the effect of submitting this job, and warns you that once you submit the job, you will NOT be able to stop or undo it:
   
   
6. If you would like to receive an email notification when the job finishes, you can optionally enter an email address into the Recipient Email Address field. Leave this field blank if you do not wish to receive an email (you can check job status at any time from within Bulk Task Smasher).
7. When you are absolutely sure that you understand what will be changed in your account as a result of running this job, type the word CONFIRM into the field provided, then click on the Confirm Job button to finish submitting the job:
   
8. Your job will be submitted to the Bulk Task Smasher queue for processing, and after a moment, you should see a confirmation message that your job has been successfully submitted.
   • The confirmation message contains the job's unique job ID. You can use this ID to quickly find this job while viewing your account's record of submitted jobs:
     

After you have submitted a job, Bulk Task Smasher will process it. Depending on the size of the job, this may take some time. At any time after submitting a job, you can view the jobs table to check on its status.

 

Set up and run a Create Flipbooks/PDFs bulk action

The Flipbooks/PDFs resource type in Bulk Task Smasher is a special case, because bulk actions involving this resource must use the Uberflip Legacy API. The Legacy API requires a separate login, and does not support the same types of actions as the current Uberflip REST API (which is used by all other Uberflip resources).

As a result, the Flipbooks/PDFs resource only supports Create and Export actions, and the procedure for setting up a Create Flipbooks/PDFs action differs slightly from the other Create actions.

Use this process to set up a Create Flipbooks/PDFs bulk action:

1. To set up a Create Flipbooks/PDFs bulk action, open Bulk Task Smasher and go to the Run Jobs section.
2. Use the Resources dropdown to select "Flipbooks/PDFs".
3. Although Bulk Task Smasher can obtain your Uberflip REST API credentials automatically, it is not able to do so for your Legacy API credentials. As a result, you'll need to enter your Legacy API credentials to proceed. If you do not know your Legacy API credentials, click on the link provided to view them (and generate them if needed):
   
4. After entering your Legacy API credentials, click on Validate and Save Credentials.
   • The credentials you have entered will be saved for the rest of your session, so you won't need to enter them again if you run multiple Flipbooks/PDFs bulk actions.
5. Now, use the Actions dropdown to select Create Flipbooks/PDFs.
6. Click on the Download Job Templates button, then download, open, and fill out the job template in the same way as any other bulk action that uses job templates.
   • See the section Set up and run a Create, Update, or Delete bulk action for detailed instructions on how to fill out out a job template.
7. After you have completed the job template, return to Bulk Task Smasher and select Flipbooks/PDFs > Create Flipbooks/PDFs again (if needed). Then, click on the Upload Job Templates button.
8. From here, simply upload the job template file and submit thejob as you would with any other bulk action that requires a job template:
   

After you have submitted a job, Bulk Task Smasher will process it. Depending on the size of the job, this may take some time. At any time after submitting a job, you can view the jobs table to check on its status.

 

Notes

Some clarification on the behavior of the Delete bulk actions:

• For Streams and Items, the Delete actions will archive the specified Streams and Items, rather than permanently deleting them. This means that Streams and Items deleted with Bulk Task Smasher can still be recovered in most cases (just like Streams and Items deleted through the Uberflip application).
• For Streams, the special actions labeled as Remove will not archive (or delete) Items, but only remove them from the specified Marketing and/or Sales Streams, while still keeping them in their respective Source Streams (as well as any other Marketing and/or Sales Streams not specified as part of the action).
• For tags and users, the Delete actions (including the special actions like Delete All Unused Tags) will permanently delete the specified tags or users. Tags and users deleted with Bulk Task Smasher can not be recovered (just like tags and users deleted through the Uberflip application).