An item is one row in a Datablist collection. To add one, open the collection and select New Item, enter values in its properties, and save. You can edit an item in the table or its detail drawer. To delete or export several items, select their row checkboxes first and review the selection count before applying an action.
Items are either created manually, by API, or by importing an external file.
Create items manually
Create a new item with New Item in the collection header. On a narrow screen, use the New button below the table.
Warning: Your collection must have properties before adding items manually.
It opens the drawer on the right. Save your item quickly by pressing the Enter key or cancel and close the drawer with the Esc key.
Keyboard Shortcut
The fastest way to create an item is with the keyboard shortcut C which will open up the new item drawer in your current collection.
Data validation
Before creating an item, Datablist ensures the item's data validates all its property data types and data constraints.
Edit an item
To edit an item, you can open the detail view in the drawer or edit it directly in the table view with our spreadsheet-like interface.
Edit directly
On a single-line cell, press Enter to start editing and Enter again to save. In a Long Text cell, Enter adds a line break; use the checkmark button to save. The cell-editing keyboard shortcuts explain saving, cancelling and moving between cells.
Edit item in drawer
Sometimes, having a form view to edit your items is more convenient. For example, if some of your collection properties have been hidden from the data table. In the drawer, all item properties are shown.
Select items and top bar
On the left of the items, you can find a checkbox to select items. When at least one item is selected, buttons appear in a top bar.
The selection toolbar includes these actions:
- Delete items - Will permanently delete selected items
- Export items to CSV/Excel - Open the export dialog for the selected items; choose CSV, Excel or vCard as appropriate
- Merge items - Open Datablist Merging Assistant
- Unselect - Cancel selection
It can also offer bulk editing and moving or copying selected items to another collection. The toolbar acts on the current selection, which may include rows beyond the ones visible on screen. Confirm the selected count and any active filters before deleting or exporting.
Quick select
To quickly select items, you can use your mouse by clicking and holding it while moving over other checkboxes. Another solution is to check one checkbox and click on another one while pressing the Shift key. All items in between will be selected.
Tip: Use the keyboard shortcut Ctrl + a to select all items
Items count on search term or filtered listing
When a search or filter is active, the table can defer counting matching rows. Click Show count in the table's count area to request the total for that view. This is different from counting selected rows.
After selecting all matching rows, the selection toolbar can show Click to show items count. Click it to calculate the selected count. Wait for the count before confirming a bulk action; the number of rows visible on screen is not the selection size.
Export a checked selection
To download specific records, select their checkboxes and use Export items to CSV/Excel in the selection toolbar. The export dialog loads the selected record IDs. Choose the format, download the file and compare its record count and identifiers with the selection you intended.
For example, if a filtered view matches 200 contacts but you select ten individual rows, check for ten selected contacts rather than assuming every matching row belongs in the file. If you use select-all for the view, inspect the computed selection count, including any rows you unchecked. Clear an unwanted selection with Unselect before starting again.
Use the collection-header export when your goal is a view export rather than a hand-picked selection. Exporting data explains filters and format options. For an address-book transfer, the CSV-to-vCard workflow explains how to map name, email and phone fields before opening the VCF in the receiving app.
Keep the collection unchanged while checking the export. A successful download confirms that a file was generated; it does not confirm that you selected the right records.
Delete items
To delete one or several items, select them with the left checkbox and use the Delete items top bar button.
Warning: While it's possible to undo delete item operations while on the page, deleted items are not moved to trash but are permanently deleted. Please export your data before clearing a large amount of data.