Add Gift Attribute Category in Batch

Amanda Hermann

Is there a way to add a gift attribute category to all gifts in a batch without including a description, date or comment? 


We want to use a gift attribute to tag specific gifts and don't need the description, date or comment fields. 


Thanks!

Jen Claudy

I think you should be able to add the Attribute Category to the Batch and ignore the Description, Date, and Comment fields.  I've done that before on accident (neglected to fill in the data I wanted).


For Gift Batches that have already been committed, you should be able to add an Attribute using Global Change.  Just select the Attributes field, not the specific Attribute Category you've created, and then Add and the Category.  Apply to a Gift Query of the desired gifts.

Amanda Hermann

Jen Claudy:

I think you should be able to add the Attribute Category to the Batch and ignore the Description, Date, and Comment fields.  I've done that before on accident (neglected to fill in the data I wanted).


For Gift Batches that have already been committed, you should be able to add an Attribute using Global Change.  Just select the Attributes field, not the specific Attribute Category you've created, and then Add and the Category.  Apply to a Gift Query of the desired gifts.

Thanks, Jen! But, when I've added a different gift attribute that only applies to certain gifts in the batch, by leaving the Gift Attribute Description blank for the ones that don't need the gift attribute at all, RE knows not to add even the gift attribute category to those gift records. I don't see how to differentiate the batch setup between when to add the gift attribute category to all gifts and when to add the gift attribute category to only gifts with a gift attribute description. 


In batch setup, I don't see Gift Attribute Category as an option. You only have a choice of Gift Attribute Description, Date, or Comments. -- Maybe I'm missing the Gift Attribute Category. Would it be called something else?

Jen Claudy

I'm not in a position to test things today...


So if when you don't enter any data in the Attribute Desc/Date/Comment fields in a Batch, RE doesn't add the (blank) Attribute, then just add a period in the Comment (or maybe a space, but I'm not sure how RE would treat that...it may disregard a space as a null).  You can periodically go back and remove the period from the Attributes with Global Change if desired.


I was thinking that selecting the Attribute Desc/Date/Comment in Batch Setup and leaving that field blank in the Batch would then add the Attribute Category with no data, but I don't think you can actually select Attribute Category as an option in Batch Setup.

Ryan Hyde

So, I can confirm that you cannot add the attribute without adding some other data. So the way I'd go about doing this in a batch is to add the attribute date field, set the default value to today's date, then hide the column so it's not something I have to tab through every time. That would add the attribute along with data that could theoretically be useful in some contexts.


It is a little bit irritating that you can't simply add the attribute without additional info though.