Edit entries in a table

The Table shows your entries as rows of a spreadsheet and lets you change them right in the cells. Use it to fix a typo in 50 entries, fill in a new field, or bring data over from Excel or Google Sheets. It is for Owners and Editors working on a computer; on a phone, use Collect.

Open the table

• Open: above the entry list, to the left of the New button, press the Table icon button (its tooltip says “Table”). It is there on screens 1024 pixels wide or more, in the Entries view and in the Groups view. The table opens in a large window over the map, and the map and list stay where they were behind it.
• Close: press the X in the top corner or Esc. While you are editing a cell, the first Esc only cancels that edit. A cell you were editing is saved first; if it can’t be saved, you are asked what to do with it.
• Filters: the window has the same Status, Type and Group filters (with Changed by AI) as the entry list, and they stay set when you close it. See Find, edit and export entries.
• New: adds an empty row at the top of the table, under the column names, and puts the cursor in it. When only one type is possible (a project with one type, or a type chosen in the filter) it adds the row at once; otherwise it lists the types first and switches the table to the one you pick. Type a title and press Enter.
• No side editor: the table is where you edit, so the entry panel does not open.
• Choose a type: without a type filter you see Title, Type, Status, Location, Groups and Updated. Pick a type with the Type filter at the top of the table and each of its fields becomes a column, in the type’s order. Entries of a subtype show their type name under the title, and a field their type does not have is an empty, grey cell.
• Large tables: 200 entries load at a time. The next ones load as you scroll near the end, or use Load more at the bottom.

Edit a cell

Click a cell to select it. Type to replace its value, or press Enter, F2 or double-click to edit what is there. Enter saves and moves down, Tab saves and moves right, Esc cancels. Every change saves by itself; the status line under the table shows “Saving…” and then “Saved”.

If a value cannot be saved, for example text is not a number or an ID is already used, the cell keeps what you typed, turns red and shows the reason. Fix it, or press Esc to drop it. If someone changed the same entry in the meantime, you see “Someone changed this entry. Their version is loaded; press Enter to save yours over it.” Only Enter replaces their version.

Chip select

Choices, references and groups show as chips. Press Enter, click, or start typing to open a list under the cell, filtered by what you type. Click or press Enter to pick. When a field allows several values the list stays open for more picks, and Backspace in the empty search box removes the last chip. Esc closes the list.

Groups change at once

Picking groups in the Groups column changes the group’s draft: the entry joins or leaves the group in the API with the next Publish, as when you edit a group. See Curate groups. The list says so at its bottom. Esc cancels; Enter or a click outside saves.

Keyboard

On a Mac use ⌘ where this page says Ctrl.

Copy, paste and fill down

• Copy a cell or range and paste it into Excel or Google Sheets. Choices are copied by label, dates as 2024-05-31, yes/no as Yes or No, links as the web address and references by title.
• Paste from a spreadsheet starting at the selected cell. Each cell is read for its field. A cell that cannot be read, such as “abc” in a number field, is marked and left as it was while the rest of the row saves. Choice labels match whatever capitals you use. A label with a comma cannot be pasted into a field that allows several choices. Images, files, references, map shapes and contact show “Can’t paste here”.
• More lines than entries: the table loads the remaining pages first. Extra lines ask “Create N new entries for the extra lines?” before anything is created, when a type is chosen.
• Fill down: select a range and press Ctrl+D to copy its top value into the cells below. Identifiers cannot be filled down, because each must be unique.

Tip: To edit a whole project in a spreadsheet tool, you can still export and re-import. For quick changes to a type’s fields, copying cells to and from the table is faster and needs no file.

Clear cells

Delete or Backspace empties the selected cells. Clearing more than one value asks first, for example “Clear 57 values in 6 entries?”, and you can undo it with Ctrl+Z. A range clear skips images, files, map shapes and the location; clear those one cell at a time. A title cannot be cleared.

Undo and redo

Ctrl+Z (⌘+Z on a Mac) undoes your last change in the table; press it again to step further back. Ctrl+Y or Shift+Ctrl+Z redoes it. The faint arrows at the bottom right of the table do the same, and their tooltip names the change, for example “Undo paste of 12 cells”. One action is one step: a paste, a fill down, a clear, Set a field or a change of groups is undone at once.

• What undo covers: values, titles, points typed as coordinates, yes/no, groups, and which image or file a cell points to (uploaded files stay in the Media library). Creating entries, marking ready, unpublishing, deleting and shapes drawn on the map are not undone.
• Other people’s edits are safe: if someone changed a cell after you, undo leaves their value and says so, for example “Undid paste of 40 cells, 2 had changed since”.
• While typing in a cell, Ctrl+Z undoes the typing only.
• How long: until you close the table, up to 100 steps. A very large change may say “This change is too big to undo”.

Add entries

With a type chosen, New adds an editable row at the top of the table, right under the column names, with the cursor in its Title. Type a title and press Enter: a draft entry of that type is created and appears right below, and the empty row stays for the next one. Leave it empty (press Esc or click elsewhere) and it goes away. You can also paste several lines into it. Spatibase reads every line first and names what cannot be read, for example “Line 2, Rating: “abc” can’t be read, so it will be left empty.”, then asks “Create 12 entries?”. New entries are drafts; nothing goes live until you mark them ready and publish.

Mark ready from the Status cell

Open the Status cell (click or Enter) and choose Ready to publish, Back to draft (for an entry that is already marked) or Unpublish. An entry that is waiting to leave the API offers Keep instead. Nothing goes live until the project’s Publish. If the entry cannot be marked ready, the cells that need attention are marked with the reason. See Drafts and publishing.

Set a field on many entries

Tick entries in the checkbox column (once one is ticked, Select all under the table picks every entry that matches the filters). A toolbar floats over the bottom of the table. The line under the table shows how many entries are selected, and its × clears the selection. The toolbar can mark the selection Ready to publish, send it Back to draft, Unpublish it or Keep it, Add to group…, Remove from group… and Delete it (after you confirm: live entries leave the API at the next publish, the others go to the Trash for 30 days).

With a type chosen, the toolbar also has Set a field…. Pick the Field, then give the value or tick Clear it (leave it empty). Spatibase asks, for example, “Set “Price” to 12 on 34 entries?” before changing the drafts. Identifiers are not offered. Entries that cannot take the value are listed in a dialog with the reason. Only drafts change; publish afterwards to make it live. Set a field can be undone like other table changes.

Developers and the API

Developers see the table read-only, without checkboxes, the New row or the Status menu. The table reads entries with include=values and sets a field with the bulk setValues action; see the Management API.

Related

• Find, edit and export entries
• Add an entry on the map
• Import your data