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How to Use Grids

| msarandi
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OroCRM provides users the ability to manage the way you look at information within OroCRM.  Grids are the most commonly used UI elements in OroCRM. Grids are customizable, so users can configure only columns of data relevant to the task at hand. In addition, grids can be modified to show columns in a specific order as well as sort the data within them. Grids not only display data about specific records, but contain links to these records’ pages.

Every time you access a datagrid you will see an aggregated view of all records within the entity that meet the filter conditions set.  Your customized view can be saved as a default and even shared with other users.

It is possible to modify the general grid settings throughout OroCRM through the User’s display settings.  This includes, but is not limited to, the number of records displayed per page and the pagination limit.  Please see our video on how to customize display settings in the Media Library.

All grids have a several of out-of-the-box features to help you manage your data. For this demonstration, we’ll be touching on 2 sections.  Grid Navigation and Grid Actions.

Grid Navigation includes:

  • Grid Headers
  • Configuring Fields
  • Refresh and Reset
  • Managing Filters
  • Views per page
  • Pagination
  • Grid Views

And Grid Actions include:

  • Inline Editing
  • Quick Action Menu
  • Mass Ations
  • Import and Export

Grid Functionality

There are a number of different features you can use from the Grid depending on which grid you are viewing.  

Grid Headers

Grid headers allows you to sort the records by column in ascending or descending order. To do so, simply click on the column header. The Grid Header can move or stay in place depending on the users grid settings under display settings in My Configuration.

Configure Fields

Clicking the gear in the upper right hand corner of the grid allows you to configure your grid settings. This allows you to configure your data grid with the columns of information to fit your business needs.  The fields which are checked in the show column are the fields of information currently displayed on the Grid. You will see these fields in the order they are listed under grid settings. To remove a column, uncheck the box next to the field name under SHOW. To add a column, check the box next to the field under show. You can rearrange the fields in the dialog by clicking on the two directional arrow and dragging and dropping the fields in the desired order.

Refresh Option

The refresh option allows you to refresh your screen in order to show any changes made by other users or systems who may be working on one of these records.  This assures you that you always have the most up-to-date data possible.  

Reset Option

The reset option resets the grid back to the default settings. This includes returning to the state before you added or altered fields or filtered results

Manage Filters

Filters are great when you need to narrow down the results in your datagrid to view or process only specific records.  For example:you can filter by all records from a specific state or all records which are tagged VIP.

Click on the filter button exposes and hides the the filter bar which displays the most commonly filtered fields selected by default.

Click on the Manage Filters link to add or remove filters. For more information on Filters, please see our Video Tutorial on How to use Filters in the Media-Library.

View Per Page

The View Per Page options allow you to set how many items are listed on the grid per page. The default is 25, but you can use the drop down to select 10, 25, 50 or 100 items per page. You can change this default from 25 to another setting permanently by changing your display settings under My Configuration.

Pagination

Pagination details are displayed in the upper middle section of the screen. Pagination breaks down a large amount of data into many pages.  The page number, number of pages, and total number of records is displayed in the center above the grid.  The arrows around the page number allow you to change the currently displayed page.  The number of records on a page is controlled by the “View per page” drop down to the right.  The default values can be changed under User Configuration.  Please see our video tutorial on Display settings in the Media Library.

Grid Views

The way you configure a grid is important. You may need to configure a view other than your default view and a view you would need to use everyday. For instance, if you worked with only California Customers, you can narrow down the results to California Customers, save the grid and then set this to be your default view. This means any time you visit that particular grid, it will only show you contacts that are listed in California.

Use the options link next to the Grid name in order to save a grid, set it as default, or select one of other shared grids. Please see our video tutorial on Filtering for a demo on how to walk through this procedure.

Use the drop down next to the grid name  (demonstrate) in order to use filters shared by other users.

Now we can demonstrate some of the grid actions.

Inline Editing

Many grids support inline editing by hovering over a field and clicking on the pencil icon. Click the checkmark to save any changes and return back to the grid.

Quick Action Menu

Most grids have a quick action menu although the options may differ depending on the grid you are viewing. Hover over the ellipse to see quick action items. Most grids include the option to “view edit or delete” the record directly from the grid if you have sufficient privileges. Other grids, such as the users grid, can be used to disable an account or reset a password.

Mass Actions

The Mass action button is located on the right edge of the grid header, above the row in the quick action menu column and allows users to perform a particular action on a group of records.   Click the drop down next to the ellipse to view the list of possible mass action options. Out of the box there are two options: Merge and Delete Records. These options may change depending on the grid being displayed, for example the contact grid has options to merge and delete records where the leads grid only has an option to mass delete.

  • Mass delete allows users to select multiple records on the grid and mass delete them instead of deleting records one by one.
  • Merge records allows users to merge 2 or more accounts into a single record. For example, if several small accounts are created for the same business, it might cause confusion. This option merges several accounts into one master record.  Currently only the Account and Contact record types support this action. Please see our video on merging account records in the Media Library for more information.

To perform a mass actions:

  1. Specify several records at once by checking the checkbox on the left side of each record to include the mass action.
  2. Alternatively, you can select all the records by clicking on the checkbox on the left of the header to perform mass check control.
  3. Click the down arrow to access options to select all records, to select visible records, and to select no records.
  4. Selecting visible records means that only the page you are viewing will be included in the mass actions.
  5. If you have more than one page, those pages are not considered to be in the viewing area and therefore will not be included.

Import and Export

  1. There are two ways to export records.
  2. Users can export the entire grid from the export button in the top right hand corner or they  can export a filtered grid by clicking the export grid option in the upper right under the filter bar.  
  3. Users can also import a cvs list into a grid by clicking the Import File button in the top right hand corner of the screen.
  4. This is helpful for when users export the list to make multiple changes and then import it to add or overwrite existing records. Please see our video on Importing and Exporting in the Media Library.

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