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Author: Kristenson, Joel
Last Updated: 2021-11-17
Overview
This article will teach you how to query for a list of contacts (Donors/Voters) in your database and then set an attribute for the entire list at once. In this particular example I set an attribute called “VIP Donor” to any donor that gave over $10,000 at one time, using this mass update utility.
IMPORTANT! This article assumes you already know how to create Attribute Folders, and Attribute Items. If you’ve never created attributes before, it’s covered in our free weekly intro training class which can sign up for here.
Tip: Using this process you can perform a wide variety of tasks such as: Tracking which contacts have received certain mass mailings such as Christmas Cards, Appeal Letters, Pledge Letters, etc.
Steps
Navigate to the Contacts (Voter/Donor) list.
Build and run your search query. In this example I queried for everyone who’s given over 10k dollars at one time, which populated 16 contact records as shown in the image below.
If you don’t want to set your attribute for certain contacts in the list you can uncheck their records from the Include column. In my example I unchecked two from my list of 16 giving me a final count of 14.
Click the Edit drop-down menu from the search tool strip, follow Set, and select Set Attributes.
If necessary, expand the folder that contains the attribute you would like to assign en masse. In this example I chose an attribute called “VIP Donor (over 10k at-one-time)”.
Click [OK] to proceed. You’ll be prompted with a warning message showing how many contacts are about to be updated, click [OK] again to begin the update.
When the process is complete (which could take a bit of time if you’re updating 100k+ contact records) it will display the results.
To query for people tagged with your attribute, open a new contact list, check the corresponding attribute box under the Attribute tab, and click [Search]. In my example I searched by the same attribute used in previous steps, which populates the 14 people who are now part of that category.
You’re now finished with these steps. The related resources below discuss similar features in the program, there’s also a link to an article on rolling back transactions if something goes awry during your mass updates.
TIP: There are a lot of other mass updates you can perform from the Edit menu on the different lists throughout the system i.e. Addresses, Households, and the Voters/Donors. Another popular application of this utility would be to *remove* attributes from a particular list of contacts.
Related Resources
Article: How to Set an Attribute for All Members of a Household En Masse
Article: Creating an Attribute Folder and Attribute Items
Article: Adding Log Notes, Mass Log Notes, and Reminders
Article: Rollback
Video: Attributes – Adding New
Video: Attributes – Assign En Masse
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