Answers.Body: <p>You can not change the contact type in a batch as a contact type also has some functionality in it. For example a Individual does not have a value in the field <code>organization_name</code> and an organization does not have a <code>gender_id</code>. </p>
  
  <p>So you have to change the contact type in a program, using the API Explorer or directly in the database. And for both: be careful!</p>
  
  <p><a href="https://civicrm.org/extensions/contact-editor" rel="nofollow noreferrer">The Contact Editor extension</a> allows you to change contact types safely. It checks for potential data loss, which isn't possible with the API method or the Merge method.</p>
  
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 3.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2017-04-03T17:40:21.533Z
Answers.Text: Yes - this is difficult on purpose (to prevent data loss)
Answers.UserDisplayName: KarinG - Semper IT
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 4.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2017-04-03T17:33:49.777Z
Answers.LastActivityDate: 2018-11-19T10:03:12.280Z
Answers.LastEditDate: 2018-11-19T10:03:12.280Z
Answers.UserDisplayName: ErikH - CiviCooP
Answers.Body: <p>If you're going eg from Individual - A to Individual - B and you have made double sure there are no custom fields that can go missing - then you can use mysql on the command line to update Contact Types for a set of given contacts en bulk.</p>
  
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 3.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2017-04-03T17:43:08.640Z
Answers.LastActivityDate: 2017-04-03T17:43:08.640Z
Answers.UserDisplayName: KarinG - Semper IT
Body: <p>Is it possible to change "contact type" for a batch of records rather than go into each one at a time? I have found the records I want to change, but "change contact type" does not seem to be a batch option offered.</p>
  
Comments.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 3.0
Comments.CreationDate: 2017-04-03T21:56:53.223Z
Comments.Text: Can you tell us more about what situation led you to want to change a contact's type? This feels like a thing that makes intuitive sense (eg if you have contact types for Member and Donor), but doesn't work in the CiviCRM "model". It might help us to understand this better!
Comments.UserDisplayName: Chris Burgess
Comments.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 3.0
Comments.CreationDate: 2017-12-13T17:18:38.170Z
Comments.Text: Possible duplicate of [how can I change the contact type for one contact (to/from individual/household/organization)?](https://civicrm.stackexchange.com/questions/20/how-can-i-change-the-contact-type-for-one-contact-to-from-individual-household)
Comments.UserDisplayName: Jon G - Megaphone Tech
Tags: <civimember>
Title: Contact type change
ThreadText: # Contact type change
  
  (Asked by: username_0 on 2017-04-03)
  
  Is it possible to change "contact type" for a batch of records rather than go into each one at a time? I have found the records I want to change, but "change contact type" does not seem to be a batch option offered.
  
  **Tags:** civimember
  
  > **Comments:**
  > **username_1**: Can you tell us more about what situation led you to want to change a contact's type? This feels like a thing that makes intuitive sense (eg if you have contact types for Member and Donor), but doesn't work in the CiviCRM "model". It might help us to understand this better!  
  > **username_2**: Possible duplicate of [how can I change the contact type for one contact (to/from individual/household/organization)?](https://civicrm.stackexchange.com/questions/20/how-can-i-change-the-contact-type-for-one-contact-to-from-individual-household)  
  
  ---
  
  ## 2 answers
  
  ### Answer by username_3 on 2017-04-03. Score: 4
  
  You can not change the contact type in a batch as a contact type also has some functionality in it. For example a Individual does not have a value in the field `organization_name` and an organization does not have a `gender_id`.
  
  So you have to change the contact type in a program, using the API Explorer or directly in the database. And for both: be careful!
  
  [The Contact Editor extension](https://civicrm.org/extensions/contact-editor) allows you to change contact types safely. It checks for potential data loss, which isn't possible with the API method or the Merge method.
  
  > **Comments:**
  > **username_4**: Yes - this is difficult on purpose (to prevent data loss)  
  
  ---
  
  ### Answer by username_4 on 2017-04-03. Score: 2
  
  If you're going eg from Individual - A to Individual - B and you have made double sure there are no custom fields that can go missing - then you can use mysql on the command line to update Contact Types for a set of given contacts en bulk.
  
  
  ---
  
  