Bulk Actions
Acting on many items at once, which is the difference between a tool and a chore for anyone working at volume.
Definition
Bulk actions let a user select multiple items and apply one operation to all of them. They are a high-value accelerator in any list-based product and a significant source of destructive mistakes if built carelessly.
Craft convention. True because the industry converged on it. Breaking it costs familiarity, not correctness.
Requirements
- Persistent, visible selection count.
- Clear distinction between select-all-on-page and select-all-matching, since they are very different operations.
- An action bar that appears on selection without displacing the list.
- Selection preserved across pagination, or an explicit statement that it is not.
- Per-item results after the operation, since partial failures are common at volume.
- Undo for reversible bulk operations, and a preview for destructive ones.
- Keyboard support: shift-click for ranges, and a select-all shortcut.
In practice
Select all matching
Data toolsAfter selecting the visible page, offering 'Select all 1,284 matching items' makes the scope explicit. Silently extending the selection beyond the visible page is how accidental mass deletions happen.
Continue from here
Each link says what the connection is, so you can tell a principle from an alternative from a thing people mix this up with.
Applies when you are designing
Principles behind this
The reasoning this solution is an application of.
- Flexibility and Efficiency of UseHeuristic
- Pareto PrinciplePrinciple
Often used with
These usually appear in the same screen or the same decision.
- CheckboxComponent
- Data TableComponent
- Destructive ActionsPattern