Batches are a way of grouping products to save them for later reference.

Any number of products can be added to a batch. Give the batch a descriptive name to make it findable by colleagues.

What are batches used for?

Batches are commonly used for saving a group of products that are for a particular purpose. Perhaps they are known to have some kind of problem, or are to be used for a special set of marketing materials, or information on them has been requested by a third-party.

Batches are normally viewable and editable by anyone on your team, but you can make a batch private so that only you can see it.

Creating a new batch

There are two ways of creating a new batch: by pasting in a list of ISBN-13s, and by saving the results of a reporting search.

Create a batch from a list of ISBN-13s

Firstly, from the Batches list page, create a new batch by clicking Add batch, and enter a name for the batch. Optionally, paste in a list of ISBN-13s of the products to be added. The ISBN-13 list does not have to be formatted in any particular way: you could paste in the entire contents of an email that lists ISBN-13s, even if they are formatted with spaces or dashes (e.g. 978-0-12345-789), and including the email text which will be stripped out by Consonance, on saving.

Create a batch from a report search

Secondly, from the Reports area, you can search for a set of products and then use a batch action to create a new batch, or to add products to an existing batch. (Unfortunately, we are using the word batch there to mean both a grouping of products, and also a bulk action!)

Reporting also allows you to search for products by pasting in text that contains ISBN-13s in any format or as part of some text. Running a report can therefore be useful for reviewing and refining the products before adding them to, or creating a new, batch.

Why are collections of products called ‘batches’, not ‘collections’?

In Consonance, a batch is a collection of products chosen by the publisher. This grouping is internal only and does not feed out via ONIX. In ONIX 3, the term ‘collection’ is an umbrella term for any grouping of products, including any kind of series or set.