Azure DevOps Bulk Updating a Custom Field

Question

All, I have a custom field that was added to TFS Azure DevOps and now I need to update any Feature or Story that have a certain text in that field.

Example: Custom field: PGM0001234 (present both on Features and Stories)

Change to: PROG0004567

Is there a way to do that either on the backend or VisualStudio? There are thousands of work items that need updating so it's not like it's less than 100 feature/stories.

Answer 1

Yes. Create a new Query from ../_queries and set the Field to your custom field.

Run the query, and the results will contain all items where your custom field contains the value PGM0001234.

In the results set, select all and then click the ... after one of the items and choose Edit from the menu.

In the Edit work items dialog, select your custom field and assign new value in the Value field. Click OK and you'll be taken back to the query results with everything in bold. Press 'Save Items` and TFS will then apply the change.

TFS may complain that some fields contain invalid fields, such as Assigned To is a user who has left the business. You may need to bulk-reassign those items to another user in the Edit work items dialog.

Answer 2

Another option is to use Excel. Create a query like the one mentioned above, then open that query in the Excel plugin for Azure DevOps. Do a search and replace or other bulk edit in excel and then het the publish changes button.

Excel is a really convenient way to bulk edit work items.