tab, tick the checkbox on each row you want to change (or use the header checkbox to select every visible row).
2. In the toolbar above the table, select 
to apply labels to the selected documents, or 
to add them to a collection. Both are icon buttons — hover to confirm ("Apply labels to selected files" and "Manage collections for selected files").
3. Tick a label or collection to add it to all the selected documents, or untick one to remove it from all of them — a part-filled box means only some of them have it. Then select **Apply**.
## Bulk-edit dates, descriptions and index categories in a spreadsheet
To change many documents' dates, descriptions or index categories at once:
1. In the tab toolbar, open the **Tools** menu and select **Bulk Edit Dates & Descriptions**. The **Bulk Edit Document Metadata** dialog opens.
2. Select **Download Excel** and save the file. It is not limited to the rows you ticked — narrow the list with a folder, label or collection first if you want a smaller file.
3. Edit the file offline, then select **Upload edited Excel file** in the same dialog and choose it (you can also drag the file onto the field).
4. BriefTech lists every row it will change, old value next to new. Check the list, then select **Apply Changes**. Closing the dialog without selecting it discards your edits.
You can edit three columns:
* **Document Date**
* **Document Description**
* **Index Category**
Leave the **File ID** column untouched so each row still maps back to its document. A date or description you replace with new text is saved as your own edit, so AI re-analysis won't overwrite it, and a replaced description is locked with the padlock.
{% hint style="info" %}
**Downloading this spreadsheet can cost index credits.** It's billed like [exporting a Document Index](/how-to-guides/export/export-index-word-pdf-excel.md): BriefTech charges index credits for any documents that aren't already part of a paid index, and shows a **Confirm Export** dialog before charging. The charge covers every row currently visible in the tab, whatever you selected — so check the total in that dialog before confirming. Documents you've already paid to index cost nothing to download again.
{% endhint %}
**Index Category** is a category you set yourself to group documents in your index; see [Document metadata fields](/reference/document-metadata-fields.md).
## Other bulk description actions
With rows selected in the Review tab, the toolbar (and its **Tools** menu) offers more actions that change many descriptions at once:
* 
— translate the selected descriptions into another language; see [Translate document descriptions](/how-to-guides/review/translate-document-descriptions.md).
* 
— set each selected document's description to its file name. This replaces the current description and unlocks any manual edit.
* 
— have the AI analyse the selected documents again. Confirm at the **Confirm Re-extraction** prompt; the run replaces the AI's own values across every field it fills, and keeps any date you've set by hand and any description you've locked with the padlock. This one is a toolbar icon button rather than a **Tools** entry — you can also right-click any selected row to reach it.
To rewrite descriptions in your own wording from a few examples, see [Refine descriptions from examples](/how-to-guides/review/refine-descriptions-from-examples.md).
## What you can change in bulk
You can now update metadata across many documents in one pass — apply labels and collections from the Review-tab toolbar, and change dates, descriptions and index categories together by exporting the metadata spreadsheet, editing it offline, and importing it back.
## Related
| How AI analysis works: agents and playbooks | What agents and playbooks are, and what they extract. | How AI analysis works: agents and playbooks |
| Refine descriptions using your own edits as examples | Edit a few descriptions the way you want them, then have BriefTech rewrite the rest to match. | Refine descriptions using your own edits as examples |
| Document metadata fields | The document fields you can edit in the Review tab and their accepted values. | Document metadata fields |
| Review an AI-Analysed Matter | A guided run through the Review stage — take a matter the AI has analysed and confirm, correct and refine its details until it's ready to index. | Review an AI-Analysed Matter |
| Translate document descriptions | Translate document descriptions into Bahasa Malaysia, Chinese (Simplified), French, or English. | Translate document descriptions |