The main grid and the item editor are where product data is edited in Perfion. The main grid loads the items you select with a categorizer or a search, in the columns of a view, and lets you edit one cell or many at once. The item editor opens one item with all its data, grouped, with every language side by side. Compare Items puts two to four items next to each other and highlights what differs, and Previous Values keep earlier values ready to restore.
Written for product data teams · By Vipin Kumar, Founder and Solution Architect · Last updated BPAS · Exclusive Boyum Practice. India's No.1 Customer-referred Boyum IT Partner.
At a glance
Perfion name
Main grid and Item editor
Where
The web clientMain gridItem editorItem DetailsThe item editor is also in the Windows client
Used by
Product editors and data managersWithin the rights in each user profile
Item editor · BM-201Show allMasterdataTechnicalENBasin mixerDEWaschtischmischerSave & Close
An illustration of the web client, not a screenshot: find the items on the left, work on many in the grid, open one in the item editor.
Spreadsheets vs Perfion Grids
Spreadsheets vs Perfion grids: what changes when everyone edits one record
In a spreadsheet, every editor works on a copy. In Perfion, everyone edits the same live product record, in the grid or in the item editor.
Spreadsheet copiesItemFinishName (DE)FileBM-201ChromeWaschtischmischerv3BM-202chromev3_finalBM-203ChromWaschtisch…v2BM-210Matt Blkv3_final_2Four versions of the file. Three spellings of one finish. Translations missing.
vs
Perfion grids and item editorMain gridBasin mixers · 240View: MasterdataChrome on 3 itemsItem editorBM-201ENDEEmpty fields: 0Compare itemsBM-201 baseBM-2101 differenceOne live record. Everyone edits it, in the view the task needs.
Editing product data in spreadsheet copies, compared with the Perfion main grid, item editor and Compare Items as described in Boyum IT Solutions' Perfion documentation.
Editing task
Spreadsheets
Perfion grids and item editor
Finding the right items
Scroll, filter and hope the file is the latest copy.
A categorizer, a search or a filter selects them from the live record.
Seeing the right columns
Hide and unhide columns in every copy of the file.
A view loads the columns a task needs, and customized views are shared with every user.
Completing one product
One very wide row, with the empty cells off-screen.
The item editor shows all its data, grouped, and can show only the empty fields.
One value on many items
Fill down, then check nothing else moved.
Multi-cell editing applies one value to every selected cell in a feature.
Find and replace
Replace across the sheet, including cells nobody meant to change.
Replace works on one feature, for the selected items or every item in the current search.
Checking variants
Two windows side by side, and sharp eyes.
Compare Items shows two to four items together and highlights every difference.
Translations
A separate sheet per language, copied back and forth.
Languages sit side by side as columns, and Google Translate or DeepL can fill empty fields.
Undoing a mistake
Hope someone kept last month’s file.
Previous Values lists the earlier values of a cell for restore, and deleted items wait in the Recycle Bin.
See how your own team would find, edit and check items in Perfion.
Perfion editing capabilities: eight ways to work faster and safer
Each capability shows what it does in Perfion and what it is worth to the business.
Operational Reality (Capabilities)
Items are found from the left pane or with global search. A categorizer selects every item in a category with one click, and its Untagged node selects the items that are in no category yet. Left-side searches find items with a combination of values, and every criterion must match. Global search, when your administrator activates it, offers Quick Search by keyword, such as an item number, EAN or colour, and Advanced Search by feature, operator and value. Your administrator decides which fields can be searched.
Editors start from the exact set of items a task is about, instead of scrolling or exporting to find them.
Less time spent looking for items
Fewer items missed in a change
Operational Reality (Capabilities)
The main grid shows the selected items in one of four layouts: Table, the most compact, with one line per item; Grid, with room to show images; Dynamic, with rows that grow to show long texts in full; and Card, for browsing, which cannot be edited. A view loads a set of columns for a purpose: Simple, All, standard views, group views that match the item editor, and customized views, shared with every user when your administrator enables them. The Column Chooser only offers features a user can at least read.
Each task gets a focused screen, so editors see what they need and nothing that distracts them.
Faster, more focused editing
One shared way of looking at the data
Operational Reality (Capabilities)
A filter narrows the items in the grid. Predefined filters are ready for anyone to apply and can also set the columns to load; editors can build their own from a feature, an operator and a value, with operators such as IN, BETWEEN, HAS and NOT HAS. A cell’s value can be used as a filter, filters can be stacked, and a filter on any value searches every page of a large grid. Show Family brings parents, or parents and siblings, back into a filtered grid, shown in italics.
Shared predefined filters
Operators such as IN, BETWEEN, HAS and NOT HAS
Parents and siblings shown with Show Family
Executive ROI Value
All itemsWeb image NOT HASBasin mixersBM-201BM-202BM-203BM-210SH-101
Recurring checks, such as items with no web image, become a filter anyone can apply, not a manual hunt.
Gaps found in seconds
Variants always seen with their parent
Operational Reality (Capabilities)
With multi-cell editing, a value entered once is applied to every selected cell in a feature, and values can be deleted the same way. A value can be copied from one cell to many, pasted in from Excel or another application, and the grid can be copied out to Excel. Replace changes a text, string, number, link or date value, or swaps one selectable value for another, on the selected items or on every item in the current search. Items can also be copied, grouped under a new virtual item, or moved to another category.
Range-wide changes, such as a new finish or a corrected weight, take minutes instead of a day of row-by-row edits.
Hours saved on every range update
No half-finished changes left in between
Operational Reality (Capabilities)
The item editor focuses on one item and shows all the data you have access to, grouped in Top View Groups, with Show all to load everything. It shows where the item sits in its hierarchy, so a parent is one step away, and several editors can be open at once. Feature filters narrow the fields to those that are empty, populated or localizable. In the Item Details work mode, the same editor sits next to the main grid, so you can move from item to item without opening and closing it.
New and complex items are completed in full, because missing fields are easy to see.
Fewer incomplete items reaching channels
Faster launch of new products
Operational Reality (Capabilities)
By default the grid shows your own data language. More languages can be added as columns, so translations of Localizable features are edited side by side, and translated pick list values can be shown for checking. The item editor gives each language its own column, or stacks them when there are many. With Google Translate or DeepL activated by your administrator, an empty field can be filled with a suggested translation from the master language, which editors then refine. A translation never overwrites an existing text.
Translators and reviewers work in the product record itself, so no language falls behind in a separate file.
No translation sheets to merge back
Faster launches in new markets
Operational Reality (Capabilities)
Compare Items shows two to four items that share the same base feature next to each other. One item is the base item, and every value that differs from it is highlighted; a switch shows only the features where at least one value differs. Values can be copied from one item to the others, one value or all of them, changes can be undone per item or for all, and saved per item or in one go. Unsaved changes are flagged before you leave.
Up to four items compared
Only the differences, highlighted
Values copied between items, with undo
Executive ROI Value
Show all rowsOnly differencesBM-201 ★BM-202BM-210FinishChromeChromeMatt BlackFlow rate6 l/min8 l/min6 l/minCartridge35 mm35 mm35 mm
Variants are checked against each other before release, so one wrong value does not reach a customer.
Fewer wrong variants listed
Faster sign-off of new ranges
Operational Reality (Capabilities)
Perfion keeps a full log of value changes. With Previous Values activated by your administrator, the earlier values of any cell on any item can be listed, and any one of them restored. Deleted items go to the Recycle Bin, which lists the deleted items of the same type, and they can be restored one by one.
A wrong paste or a deleted item is put right in minutes, not rebuilt from old files.
Mistakes reversed, not re-keyed
Confidence to make bulk changes
Core Concepts
5 Core Concepts of Fast, Safe Editing
The first two are about finding and seeing the right data. The last three are about editing it safely.
01
Finding and seeingConcept 01 · Start from the exact items a task is about
Find the Right Set First
The product data problem it solves
Editors scroll through thousands of rows, or export everything to Excel, just to find the items a change is about, and some are always missed.
The concept explained
Every editing task is about a set of items: one range, one supplier’s products, everything still missing a web image. The faster and more precisely that set is found, the safer the change. In Perfion, a categorizer gives a category in one click, left-side searches combine values that must all match, and a filter narrows the grid further with operators such as IN, BETWEEN and NOT HAS. The result is the exact set, and nothing else.
Everyday analogy
Finding a book in a library: first the section, then the shelf, then the title. Nobody reads every book to find one.
In Perfion
Categorizers, left-side searches, Global search and filters decide which items load in the main grid. Left-side search criteria are combined with AND, and your administrator decides which fields can be searched.
Swipe sideways to see the full diagramA category, a search and a filter narrow 240 items to the 18 that need work.
02
Finding and seeingConcept 02 · Same items, different columns
The Right View for the Task
The product data problem it solves
Every editor sees every column, so the few fields a task needs are lost among hundreds, and each person hides columns their own way.
The concept explained
A product can carry hundreds of features, but a task needs a handful: a technical check needs specifications, a web launch needs texts and images. In Perfion, a view loads the set of columns for a purpose, and a layout decides how the rows look: compact, with images, or with long texts shown in full. Group views match the groups in the item editor, and customized views are shared with every user. The data stays the same; only what is shown changes.
Everyday analogy
A cricket scorecard: the same match, shown as batting figures to one reader and bowling figures to another.
In Perfion
Views can be Simple, All, standard views, group views and, when enabled by your administrator, customized views made with the Column Chooser and shared between all users. Layouts are Table, Grid, Dynamic and Card; Card cannot be edited.
Swipe sideways to see the full diagramThe same 18 items in three views, each with the columns one task needs.
03
Editing safelyConcept 03 · The grid for breadth, the item editor for depth
Many Items, or One Item in Full
The product data problem it solves
Editors try to complete a new product in a spreadsheet row hundreds of columns wide, and the fields off-screen stay empty.
The concept explained
Some work runs across items: the same field on many products, such as a new finish or a corrected weight. Other work runs down one item: everything a new product needs before it can be sold. Perfion has a tool for each. The main grid is built for breadth, with one value applied to every selected cell in a feature. The item editor is built for depth: one item, all its data, grouped in Top View Groups, with filters that show what is still empty. Item Details puts the two side by side.
Everyday analogy
A class register and a student’s file. The register records one thing for the whole class; the file holds everything about one student.
In Perfion
Item data is edited in the item editor the same way as in a grid cell. Item Details offers the same functionality as the item editor, so you can move between items in the main grid without opening and closing the editor.
Swipe sideways to see the full diagramAcross many items in the grid, or down one item in the item editor.
04
Editing safelyConcept 04 · Let the differences show themselves
Compare Before You Release
The product data problem it solves
Variants are checked by eye in two windows, and a flow rate that differs from the rest of the range goes unnoticed until a customer complains.
The concept explained
Variants of one product should differ only where they are meant to: finish, size, flow rate. Anything else that differs is usually a mistake, and spotting it by eye across many fields is slow and unreliable. In Perfion, Compare Items puts two to four items side by side, marks one as the base and highlights every value that differs from it. With only the differences shown, a screen of fifty features becomes the few that matter, and the right value can be copied across.
Everyday analogy
Comparing two phone models on a shopping site with “show only differences” switched on.
In Perfion
Compare Items works on up to four items sharing the same base feature. Values can be copied to one item or all of them, changes undone per item or for all, and saved per item or for all.
Swipe sideways to see the full diagramBM-201 is the base item. The values that differ from it are highlighted.
05
Editing safelyConcept 05 · Make change safe, not rare
Every Change Can Be Undone
The product data problem it solves
A wrong paste overwrites hundreds of descriptions, and the old text has to be rebuilt from last month’s export, if anyone kept one.
The concept explained
Bulk editing is powerful because it is fast, and that is also its risk. Teams that cannot undo a mistake avoid bulk changes and fall back on slow, row-by-row work. The answer is not fewer changes, but changes that can be reversed. Perfion keeps a full log of value changes. With Previous Values, the earlier values of any cell can be listed and restored, and deleted items wait in the Recycle Bin until they are restored. Speed and safety then work together.
Everyday analogy
A bank passbook: every entry is recorded, so a wrong one can be traced and reversed.
In Perfion
Previous Values are available when activated by your administrator and list all earlier values for the selected item and cell. The Recycle Bin lists deleted items of the same base feature, and items are restored one at a time.
Illustrative scenario · not a client case studyA Business Like Yours
Illustrative scenario: an Indian bathroom fittings maker, with product data edited in spreadsheets
A manufacturer of taps, showers and bathroom fittings sells about 6,500 items in five finishes, through dealers, its own web shop and two marketplaces, and exports to the Gulf. Orders, stock and invoicing are in the ERP. Product data is kept in spreadsheets.
The Operational Challenge
Each channel team keeps its own copy of the product sheet. A finish change means editing hundreds of rows in each copy, variants are checked by eye in two windows, and translations go out and come back as separate files.
Last quarter, one wrong paste overwrote 400 product descriptions, and the old text had to be rebuilt from an export a month old.
Several copies of the product sheet, never quite the same
Range updates that take days of row-by-row editing
Variants listed with wrong flow rates or finishes
Translations that lag behind, and mistakes that cannot be undone
The Financial Transformation
In Perfion, editors find a range with a categorizer or a search, work in shared views in the main grid and apply one value to every selected item at once. New products are completed in the item editor, where empty fields are easy to see.
Compare Items checks variants side by side before release, translations are edited next to the original, and Previous Values lets a wrong edit be restored instead of rebuilt.
One live record, edited by every team
Range updates done in minutes
Variants checked before every release
Every language side by side, every mistake reversible
Illustrative figures for a typical Indian manufacturer of this size. They add up, but they are not a client case study.
Cost line
Before (per month)
After (per month)
Difference (per year)
Editor time finding, checking and re-keying data
₹ 1,40,000
₹ 55,000
₹ 10,20,000
Rework on listings with wrong variant data
₹ 70,000
₹ 25,000
₹ 5,40,000
Translation rework and corrections
₹ 50,000
₹ 20,000
₹ 3,60,000
Total
₹ 2,60,000
₹ 1,00,000
₹ 19,20,000
Illustrative saving a year₹ 19,20,000Same figures as the table, not a client result
Editor time
Listing rework
Translation rework
Before After
See your own ranges found, edited and checked in Perfion.
prodRecord Live is a monthly webinar series on product information management, held on the second Wednesday of every month from January 2027. Each session takes one product data topic and works through it in plain English with time for your questions.
Who benefits from better editing: one record, three answers
One record
Promoter & CXOs
Is editor time going into the right work?
Bulk changes take minutes, variants are checked before release and mistakes are reversed, so the team spends its time enriching products, not repairing them.
Product Data Manager
Can I see what changed, and put it right?
Shared views and filters make checks repeatable, and Previous Values with the Recycle Bin mean a wrong change is restored, not rebuilt.
Product Editor
How do I update 300 items without a spreadsheet?
Find them with a category or a search, apply one value to all of them in the main grid, and complete new items in the item editor.
Vocabulary
Editing Vocabulary and Definitions
From the grid that shows many items, to the tools that compare and restore them. Each term shows what it means, why it matters, and a household comparison.
01
Main grid
Web client · many items
Loads the items selected on the left
Operational definition
The grid in the web client that shows the items selected with a categorizer or a search, where items and their data are managed.
Why it matters in Perfion
Items can be added, copied, moved, grouped and deleted, and data edited one cell at a time or many cells at once.
Everyday analogy
A class register: one row per student, one column for each thing you record.
Item editor and grids: questions product teams ask
Short answers, each with a link to the part of this guide that explains it.
The main grid shows many items at once, in the columns of a view, and is built for work across items. The item editor shows one item with all its data, grouped, and is built for completing that item in full.
Yes. Multi-cell editing applies one value to every selected cell in a feature, values can be copied from one cell to many or pasted in from Excel, and Replace works on the selected items or every item in the current search.
Yes. Views load a set of columns for a purpose. When your administrator enables them, customized views can be created with the Column Chooser and are shared between all users.
Compare Items shows two to four items sharing the same base feature side by side, highlights the values that differ from the base item, and can show only the differences.
Yes. Languages can be added as columns in the grid and the item editor. With Google Translate or DeepL activated by your administrator, empty fields can be filled with a suggested translation, which never overwrites an existing text.
Yes. Perfion keeps a full log of value changes. With Previous Values activated, the earlier values of any cell can be restored, and deleted items can be restored from the Recycle Bin.
Yes. The main grid and the item editor are part of Perfion itself, so this guide applies whichever ERP your product data comes from. What changes from one ERP to another is the integration that brings ERP data into Perfion.
See your products in Perfion grids and the item editor
See your own ranges found in a click, updated in bulk, compared side by side and completed in the item editor. Choose the path that fits the ERP you run.