How to correct document properties in bulk with an AI agent Leave feedback

Templates leave the wrong company in every file. A team rename leaves the old name in the author field. A migration leaves timestamps that make no sense. These are bulk metadata problems, and they are exactly what an agent with a loop is for.

Note

The commands and config snippets on this page are for the .NET build of the server — the only platform available today. Installation and client setup: MCP server for .NET. Other platforms will expose the same tools with their own launch command; everything else on this page applies unchanged.

For every document in my folder, set Company to “Acme Ltd” and Author to “Research Team”, then tell me which files you changed.

The agent calls write_metadata per file per property.

write_metadata sets one property per call and saves a new file. Two properties on one document means two calls, and the second must be applied to the result of the first. Otherwise the second call starts from the original and the first edit vanishes.

If an agent reports “both properties set” and only one stuck, this is why. Say it explicitly when it matters:

Apply the second change to the file produced by the first, not to the original.

A blind bulk write can overwrite good values with worse ones. One extra call per file makes it deliberate:

First list the current Author and Company for each file. Then change only the ones that are wrong.

That is search_metadata with nameContains, and it turns a sweep into a decision.

Not every format has a place for every property. A write that a format cannot support fails with a message rather than pretending — good behaviour, but it means a mixed folder can produce a partial result. Ask for the failures as a list rather than a silent count.

Under metered licensing every call is billed usage, and a two-property sweep over 200 files is 400 calls plus the reads. Filter first, write second.

And the recurring caveat: in evaluation mode only the first five properties are visible, so a “check then write” workflow is checking a truncated list. get_license_status before a bulk run.