Add Multiple Items at Once

logicalparadox

I would like to see the ability to add multiple items (foods, exercise, etc) simultaneously. So, if I have a quick lunch of an avocado, a few eggs, and a cup of coffee, I could search for, select (a checkbox perhaps), and then add all three items without leaving the "Add Food" dialog. This would also make the Favorites and Common Foods tabs even more convenient, because I could often just scroll through and tick things off from those lists all at once. Less click, quicker input. Right now, I have to go "Add Food", search/find an item, add it, get dumped back to my diary, then click "Add Food" and do it all again for each additional item.

I'm actually surprised this hasn't been added already (MFP has had this function for a long time). I'm sure this has been suggested before, but I'd like to add a +1 discussion out there because I think this would be a really useful feature.

Hilary

@logicalparadox thanks for the suggestion, we will take it under review! For now, have you tried Creating a "Recipe" for common food combinations that you use. Once you create a recipe, you can add the recipe into your diary as a single item then right click to select "Explode recipe" so that you can edit/delete individual items. Once you have created a list of all your favourite food combination, this method should be relatively quick and easy! Good Luck!

mfox

What I have done is create a "pick list" of the recurring items I eat regularly. This is not a recipe but individual food items in the diary. I copy this full list forward each day so that I have a fresh list to work off of the next day. (Don't forget to do this.) I then edit this list as needed for the current day. Occasionally I add items to the list. If I am adding something which will be recurring I am sure to add it to the pick list. If it is a one-off this is not necessary. Some things will be removed from the pick list -- as in when I eat the last serving of a recipe I have been working my way through. Most people tend to eat the same foods over and over so once the list is made it is fairly low maintenance. My list has about 80 items on it.

This has saved a ton of time in creating the diary everyday.

What is not great is that for whatever reason the program objects to moving items within a list this long. PLEASE FIX this little foible.

ANOTHER ENHANCEMENT which would really help would to be able to clear all items with zero amounts at the end of the day instead of having to individually select them for deletion.

AND -- really -- Shift should be used for contiguous selections and Ctrl should be used for non-contiguous selections on Windows computers. AT LEAST allow contiguous selections somehow.

logicalparadox

That's a great suggestion @mfox. I could certainly use this for my purposes. I'd have to simply add all my regularly consumed items to my diary entry for TOMORROW. Then, when tomorrow comes, I'd need to go forward a day (to the next TOMORROW) and use the "copy previous day" feature. Then I could go back to the current day and modify my diary as needed. This is just a little cumbersome in needing to REMEMBER to do this. An automated feature would still be preferable. But, it's a great workaround taking advantage of existing features.

mfox

@logicalparadox -- I have come to copying forward two days in case I space out on this task while working on my diary. Yes it has happened, lol.

As suggested above what would make this really efficient would be to allow mass deletion of all items with zero amounts.

If it turns out you want to add an item which has been deleted it is easy to copy it from the forward list and paste. This is also faster than the add food method.

Let me know if you decide to work with this idea and how it goes for you.

Vickie

If deletion of items with zero value is implemented, please make this a manual opt-in process! Sometimes when I miss a supplement dose I mark it as zero as a note. Zero is meaningful to me.

Hilary

@mfox , we have recently added a feature to select "Favorites" as described in a recent blog post https://cronometer.com/blog/search-tabs-update-polar-integration/.
I would suggest using this instead of adding all of your favorites to your diary every day.

mfox

@Hilary, the Favorites list appears to have self-populated. There are many items I use over and over but I am pretty sure I have not put them there. Also they are using the NCCDB instead of USDA which is the database I choose when available. When I bring up these "rogue" items they are not starred. Therefore, I can not remove them from the list. So something is not working with this feature.
Even if this was working, i.e., only items on the list I have put there, I would not use it to populate my diary everyday as I would have to pick each food individually as there does not seem to be a function for multiple picks. In addition I would have to place them in the diary groups. So even if I could do multiple picks I would have to do this for each of the diary groups I use.
My workaround described above does all of this for me quite easily. Once I have gone through the list for the day and decided on the items I want, and their quantities, having a command to clear the items left with zero amounts would make this a real joy to use. Make that an option from the gear drop-down on the diary.
Thanks for your feedback and consideration.

Hilary

@mfox , thank you for bringing this to our attention. I have looked into it, and not found any issues with the Favorites Tab. It is easy to sometimes mistake the "Common foods" Tab for the "Favorites" tab. The common foods tab is populated with a majority of NCCDB foods as they contain the best data (this is what the common foods tab is meant to contain). The tabs will populate with your most used foods at the top within that tab's search parameters.
Ensure you are looking at the tab specifically labelled "Favorites" and if you are still seeing this discrepancy please let me know and I will look into it further.
Thank you for the suggestion regarding adding multiple items at once. This has been requested in the past as well; it would definitely improve the useability.
Another way to add multiple items at once especially if they are items you are consuming every day is to create a "Recipe" for them. This is especially useful for example if you are taking multiple supplements. Add all your supplements to one recipe and then you can bulk add them all by adding one serving of your recipe. If you wish to delete an item from the "Recipe" on a single day you can use the "Explode recipe" feature to adjust the items (add/delete/change serving size) you are adding to your diary that day.

mfox

@Hilary, I am definitely on the Favorites tab. Perhaps 2/3 of the entries were not put there by me and show no yellow star marked.
Yes I have used the Recipe function for my supplements list. I do not find it useful for day to day meal planning -- there are too many variables changing every day.

Hilary

@mfox , Thank you so much for bringing this to our attention. We will get this problem fixed for you as soon as possible. I will let you know when it is fixed.

Hilary

@mfox , This issue is fixed. You should now only be seeing items that you have marked with a star in your "Favorites" tab. Thanks once again for reporting this issue!

mfox

@Hilary -- thanks much. This will be useful; especially once you all fix it for multiple selections. That will make it very efficient. Again thanks.

Captain_Ron

I think this is a similar request, but I would love to see the app stay on the Add Food page after adding a food. That way I can add the next food without having to tap Add Food again. If you are adding several foods this would be a time saver.

Karen_Cronometer

Hi @Captain_Ron

We are working on this feature - thank you for your suggestion. It will save a lot of time when adding multiple food items to your diary.

Best,

SSA

Any updates on adding multiple items at once please?

Karen_Cronometer

Yes! This feature is available on the mobile app; if you would like to give that a try!

Check it out here: https://cronometer.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/360018955211-Mobile-Add-a-Food#h_2179cf9e-32a7-443e-b989-9721c4b5a058