# Update multiple row values via relation / action **URL:** \ **Category:** Ask for Help\ **Created:** [March 25, 2021, 11:47am UTC](https://community.glideapps.com/t/update-multiple-row-values-via-relation-action/24715 "2021-03-25T11:47:50Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 3\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![merkle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5e9695/32.png) [@merkle](https://community.glideapps.com/u/merkle)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2021, 11:47am UTC](https://community.glideapps.com/t/update-multiple-row-values-via-relation-action/24715/1 "2021-03-25T11:47:50Z")
Hi gang… Wondering if my thinking is correct here and if anybody can help. Thanks in advance! BACKGROUND: My app has users who can create simple contacts. When they then create new items in the app they are each associated to a contact. In the backend my app just writes a temporary email placeholder for these contacts in the items for the time being. The catch is - users can then choose to link to their contacts by adding their email address. This then "syncs " items across users and their linked contacts. PROBLEM: When user chooses to link with their contact I need to go back via a relation (eg. “all items associated with contact”) and update the correct linked email address to replace the temporary one. This is so that the now linked contact can also become a row owner and view the item. The issue I seem to be running into is that the set columns action can’t (yet??) work with multiple relations? It would be sooo painfully simple if this did. Is there another fancy way that essentially “find and replaces” all the old temporary email placeholders with the updated email address when the contact profile is updated? Thanks! ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Murphy](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/user_avatar/community.glideapps.com/darren_murphy/32/47326_2.png) [@Darren\_Murphy](https://community.glideapps.com/u/Darren_Murphy)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2021, 11:58am UTC](https://community.glideapps.com/t/update-multiple-row-values-via-relation-action/24715/2 "2021-03-25T11:58:20Z")
> [@merkle](#): > > The issue I seem to be running into is that the set columns action can’t (yet??) work with multiple relations? It would be sooo painfully simple if this did. Correct. It’s been requested as a feature, so hopefully it’s on the way… > [@merkle](#): > > Is there another fancy way that essentially “find and replaces” all the old temporary email placeholders with the updated email address when the contact profile is updated? Only thing I can think of is that if you can present the contacts to your user as an Inline List, then you could associate an action that sets the email and at the same time removes the contact from the list. Also, maybe the following will provide some inspiration… > [@Reset Multiple Rows At Once](https://community.glideapps.com/t/reset-multiple-rows-at-once/22211): > > There have been several requests for people to find a way to clear a value in multiple rows. I was thinking about that and came up with a quick example of a way to handle that. Instead of trying to clear a value in an entire column, I realized we could just change one value on a parent column, load it as a single value in our sheet and then compare that parent value to a column that we set or unset for each row. It’s not about clearing an entire column, it’s about making a value in each row n… ---
**Author:** ![merkle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5e9695/32.png) [@merkle](https://community.glideapps.com/u/merkle)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2021, 8:32pm UTC](https://community.glideapps.com/t/update-multiple-row-values-via-relation-action/24715/3 "2021-03-25T20:32:06Z")
Thanks @Darren_Murphy for the reply. I did read the @Jeff_Hager post there but I think the added complexity is that I’m trying to also make the updated contact email as a row owner of the items. As I understand I can’t use UIDs or lookups/logic to even reference back to the contact and then make one of those the Row Owners? I guess they’re the other features I’m waiting on that could then make this work?!