How to edit records in the Contao back end

Editing data is one of the central functions of a Content Management System. Contao offers a lot of professional features that make the editing process as easy and comfortable as possible. You can revert back to earlier versions of a record, restore deleted records, move records via clipboard and even edit multiple records at once. Most of these functions can be accessed using the navigation icons.

List view icons ¶

The list view being the simplest view only offers the four basic actions: edit, duplicate, delete and show.

Parent view icons ¶

The parent view offers two additional navigation icons to control the order of the records. From version 2.7, the order can also be changed via drag and drop. To do so, simply click on a record (not a navigation icon) and drag it to its new position.

Tree view icons ¶

The tree view requires additional icons to handle the hierarchical structure. Besides duplicating a single record, it also supports duplicating a record with all its sub-records as well as pasting it after or into another record, so you can create a nested structure.

Restoring prior versions ¶

Contao automatically creates new versions of a record every time you save it. As soon as there is more than one version, a drop-down menu which allows you to revert back to a prior version appears at the top of the form. Simply choose a version and click the Restore button.

Editing multiple records ¶

The ability to edit more than one record at a time clearly makes Contao stand out from the variety of Content Management Systems. Click the Edit multiple button to switch the editing mode, then select one or more records and choose the fields that you want to modify.