Bulk Move Resources & Move Restrictions

The Move Bulk Action option gives a user the ability to move multiple resources at once, instead of one-by-one. (Click here to read more on moving a single resource.)

This article will breakdown how to Bulk Move your Resources between folders, as well as outlining the restrictions you may run into when performing this action. 

Click below to jump to the relevant section:

• How to Bulk Move Resources
• Who can Move Resources? (Permissions)
• What Resource types can and cannot be Moved?
• Restrictions - why can't I Move to certain folders?

Please note that the 'Resource' and 'Resources' terminology referenced in this article may appear differently in your platform as these are customisable terms. You can view common alternative names for this here. 

How to Bulk Move Resources

Items can be Bulk Moved from either within a folder location, or from a search/filter results page (which may involve moving items from different source folders together to a single new destination). 

To do this, select the checkbox next to each resource on Card and List Views, or on hover on Mosaic View. Then, from the Select Bulk Action menu click Move Resources.

A pop up window will appear, where you can select the folder you wish to move the resources to. Click on the desired folder and then click Move.

Below demonstrates how to move a single asset, and also in bulk:

Users can move up to 300 Resources at a time (if this limit has been enabled for their platform.)

Who can Move Resources? (Permissions)

Users require Publish or Admin level permission on a folder to be able to Move its Resources. Likewise, the same level of permission is required on the desired destination folder. 

Users who cannot move any Resources will simply not see these single Move actions, or Bulk Move when within a folder.

Users who cannot Bulk Move all Resources they selected via search/filter results will be notified when they click on the Bulk Move action, and no Folder tree will open:

Users who have permission to move some, but not all, Resources they may have selected in bulk via search/filter results will see snackbars informing them of this after they have successfully moved the items they had permission to:

And finally, users who have permission to move the item from its current folder will be shown the below in the folder tree for any possible destination folder they lack permission to move into:

Note that permissions also factor heavily into what users can see in the Folder Tree - if they have access to a Top Level Folder, for example, not its sub-folder, but then have access again to the next level down, then the user will only see that Top Level Folder. (The 'Branch' cuts off at the point where a user loses all permission.)

What Resource types can and cannot be Moved?

All Resource file types are supported for Move, with the exception of Office Online 'Working Files'. 

However there are some scenarios where even a Main Admin cannot Move items.

A main one is if an item is 'Checked Out' - meaning it is locked from editing and moving potentially by all but the user who checked it out. It may need to be checked back in before it is eligible to be moved again.   

Keep reading to learn more about other restrictions. 

Restrictions - why can't I Move to certain folders?

There are a few reasons why you may find you cannot select a folder to Move selected items into. These are broken down below:

Mandatory Review Dates on Destination Folder

If all selected Resources lack Review Dates, any folder that is set to mandatory Review Dates will be disabled from selection. 

It is recommended that those resources are first edited to add these missing values in, then try again.

If a mix of resources are selected where some already contain a Review Date, but some do not, then these folders can be selected but only the ones with that data will be successfully moved.  

Publish Approvals on Destination Folder

If a Publish Approval Workflow is set up on a folder, then most users will be unable to Move to that folder and will see the below in the folder tree:

Only Main Admins, and users who have both 1) Publish Permission to that folder, and 2) are Workflow Admins, can bypass this restriction and select these folders to move resources into.

Other notes & restrictions

• Any Resource that is in Pending Publish Approval state, where the Info Preview page is accessed via the Approvals List, cannot be Moved while it is in this status. 
• When a single resource is being moved, or when moving multiple files from the same source folder, that folder will be disabled from selection in the Folder Tree:
  

• There is no restrictions around filters, even if the source and destination folders have different restricted and/or mandatory filters enabled - Move is still allowed. Missing filter values may just be required to be added next time a moved Resource is edited, should that field be mandatory. 

• For CDN Links, the Folder ID allows us to invalidate all assets of a folder at once (e.g. if public sharing is disabled on the parent folder). As such, moving a file to a different folder location, will break this link. Click here to read more.

• Move appear as 'Edit' actions in your Usage reports.