Bulk / Grid Editor

What is the Bulk Editor?

The Bulk Editor (also called the Grid Editor) is a spreadsheet-style interface for editing tables and columns quickly. Instead of opening a separate dialog for each table, you can view and modify many tables and their columns side by side in a single grid.

It is available in two situations:

  • Offline design — when you are working without a live database connection
  • Logical design — when modelling entities and attributes before choosing a database engine

The Bulk Editor is particularly useful when you need to rename a large number of columns, change data types across many tables, or add columns to several tables in one session.

How to Open the Bulk Editor

Right-click any table header in the diagram and choose Open in Grid Editor from the context menu. The editor opens as a panel at the bottom of the screen.

Editing Multiple Rows Simultaneously

Select multiple rows in the grid by holding Ctrl (or Shift for a range) and clicking the row headers. Then double-click any cell in the selection to enter edit mode — the same value will be applied to all selected rows at once.

This is ideal for batch operations such as:

  • Setting the same data type on several columns
  • Marking a group of columns as NOT NULL
  • Applying a common default value

Switching Between Tree View and Table View

The Bulk Editor offers two display modes:

  • Tree view — shows tables as parent rows with their columns nested underneath, giving a clear hierarchy
  • Table view — shows only columns in a flat list, maximising the number of rows visible at once

Switch between the two modes using the toggle buttons at the top of the editor panel.

Using the Bulk Editor in Logical Design

In logical design, the Bulk Editor shows entities and their attributes instead of tables and columns. The same batch-edit capabilities apply, making it efficient to define many attributes quickly — for example, setting attribute types or marking mandatory fields across several entities in one pass.