About permission sets in bulk uploads

The way that bulk upload deals with permission sets is a little different from the way it deals with other fields in that passing blank cells under 'permissionSets' will remove the permission sets from that account.

Whilst this is definitely something you need to be aware of so that you don't remove access from your users by mistake, it operates this way deliberately because doing so makes it possible to manage permission set allocation via bulk upload.

Removing a permission set from accounts by bulk

1. Identify the accounts in question via search and do a data download.
2. Open the data download in your favourite spreadsheet package and get rid of the columns you don't need (keep username and permissionSets).
3. Use your spreadsheet package's find and replace function to find the permission set ID you want to remove and replace it with nothing throughout the permissionSets column, leaving any other permission sets that may be there unchanged.
4. Save the file as CSV and upload as a modify type.

If this removes all permission sets from an account, that account may not be able to access resources so you may like to check for blank cells in the permissionSets column before you upload.

Adding a permission set to accounts by bulk

This is a little more advanced as you will have to add a permission set name to cells in a spreadsheet that may already have data in them and you will need more spreadsheet skills. Permission set names are separated by line feed characters.

1. Identify the accounts in question via search and do a data download.
2. Open the data download in your favourite spreadsheet package and get rid of all the columns except username and permissionSets.
3. In the cell next to the first permission set ID enter a formula to add a linefeed character and the text from the cell next door to the end of the new permission set ID.

   1. e.g. in Excel on Windows, if your new set had the id abc#1234 and was alongside the existing set(s) in B2, you would enter in cell C2:

      CODE

      ="abc#1234"&CHAR(10)&B2

      ^{where CHAR(10) is the code for a line feed character, and '&' joins text. Your spreadsheet package / platform may be different.}

4. Copy and paste for all rows
5. Copy the new column and paste the values rather than the formulas over the old permission set IDs (In Excel it is called 'Paste special')
6. Remove your column of formulas
7. Save as CSV and upload as a modify type.