Quick edit and bulk edit

With a Pro license the field columns of a post list also appear in WordPress's Quick Edit panel and Bulk Edit panel. You can fix a price, flip a switch or set a date on one post or on many posts without opening the edit screen.

This works on the posts, pages and custom post type lists. Users and terms have no quick or bulk edit for field values.

Which fields can be edited

A field gets controls when it has an admin column and its type is one of these:

Other types (Checkboxes, Image, Gallery, Repeater, WYSIWYG, relational fields, Link and so on) can only be changed on the edit screen.

Quick Edit

1. Hover a row and click Quick Edit.
2. The panel shows the current value of every editable field of that post.
3. Change what you need and click Update. The row refreshes with the new value.

Notes:

• The dropdowns have a first option — None —, which clears the field. True / false has only Yes and No.
• A field whose group does not apply to this post (for example the group is limited by another location rule) shows a disabled control and is not saved.
• A select cannot show a value that is no longer one of its choices; that control stays disabled so saving cannot wipe the value by accident.

Bulk Edit

1. Tick several posts, choose Edit in the Bulk actions menu and click Apply.
2. In the panel, set the fields you want to change. Every control starts at — No change — (text boxes show it as a placeholder).
3. Click Update.

Only fields you filled in are written, on every selected post that has the field's group. An empty control means "no change", so bulk edit cannot clear a value.

How values are saved

Each value goes through the same cleaning as on the edit screen, field by field:

Quick edit and bulk edit do not show the validation messages of the edit screen. A required field is never emptied: if you clear it in Quick Edit, the stored value stays. Clearing a field that is not required (empty text, or — None —) does clear it.

Only the fields you changed are written, so nothing else on the post is touched. Saving needs the permission to edit that post; on a bulk edit, posts you cannot edit are skipped. Both panels are protected by WordPress's own nonces, and a request with a wrong nonce changes nothing.

Developer filter

wpmcf/admin_columns/editable (arguments: enabled, column descriptor, field, kind) lets a site switch inline editing off for one column by returning false.

Without a license

On the free plugin, or after a license expires, the extra controls are removed and any inline values posted are ignored. See License expiry.

Troubleshooting

• A field is missing in Quick Edit. It has no column (Show in the admin list), its type is not editable, or the license does not include admin columns.
• A control is disabled. The post has no row for that field's group, the group does not apply to the post, or the stored select value is not among the current choices.
• A value did not change. The value was not valid for the field type (a wrong email, a choice that does not exist, a malformed date), or the field is required and you emptied it. The old value is kept; fix the entry or use the edit screen.
• Bulk edit did not clear a field. Bulk edit treats empty as "no change"; use Quick Edit with — None — or the edit screen.