Bulk update of issues using a REST API request.

Question

Hello, could you please answer the following question:

Is it possible to bulk edit issues?

Using PATCH with this endpoint: https://dev.azure.com/{ORG}/_apis/wit/workitems/{Id}?api-version=7.1 allows you to change only one issue, but I need to update multiple issues at once.

Answer 1

Hi Dmitry Kuharev Thank you for reaching out to Microsoft Q&A.

You can use this old batch Api to bulk update work items.

Refer here: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/rest/api/azure/devops/wit/workitembatchupdate?view=azure-devops-rest-7.0

Working example is referenced here: https://www.briankohrs.com/posts/azdo-rest-api-batch-requests/

You cannot patch multiple work item issues with https://dev.azure.com/{ORG}/_apis/wit/workitems/{Id}?api-version=7.1

You will have to call the patch api in loop for each work item separately with the help of code.

Looping multiple work items with powershell

$Org = "<ORG>"
$Pat = "<PAT>"
$Project = "<Project>"
$Ids = @(101, 102, 103)  # Work item IDs
$authHeader = "Basic " + [Convert]::ToBase64String([Text.Encoding]::ASCII.GetBytes(":$Pat"))
foreach ($id in $Ids) {
    $uri = "https://dev.azure.com/$Org/$Project/_apis/wit/workitems/$id?api-version=7.1"
    $body = @(
        @{ op = "add"; path = "/fields/System.State"; value = "Resolved" },
        @{ op = "add"; path = "/fields/System.AssignedTo"; value = "******@xxx.com" }
    ) | ConvertTo-Json -Depth 5
    Invoke-RestMethod -Uri $uri -Method Patch -Headers @{ Authorization = $authHeader; "Content-Type" = "application/json-patch+json" } -Body $body
    Write-Host "Updated work item $id"
}

Answer 2

In Azure DevOps, you can bulk modify several work items, including issues, but the PATCH method you mentioned is designed for updating a single work item at a time. To bulk update work items, you can use the associated features in the Azure DevOps web portal or utilize the REST API for bulk operations.

For bulk updates via the REST API, you can refer to the Work Items - Delete documentation, which provides guidance on how to perform bulk operations effectively. Additionally, you can perform bulk updates using the Azure DevOps web portal by selecting multiple work items and applying changes to them collectively.

If you need to delete or restore several work items at the same time, you can also look into the bulk delete feature available in Azure DevOps.