Viewing & editing documents

Inspect a document

Query results appear in a table. Expand a row to see its BSON fields, then expand objects or arrays as needed. Type badges and value colours distinguish strings, numbers, dates, IDs and containers. Table columns can be pinned, reordered and resized.

Right-click a field for copy and editing actions. Date presentation, property order, string quote markers and object summaries can be adjusted under Settings → Documents. These display preferences do not rewrite stored values.

Edit a property

1. Run a collection query with an empty server projection {}.
2. Double-click a supported scalar value in the table or expanded fields to edit it in place.
3. Enter the new value. Press Enter or move focus away to apply valid input; press Escape to cancel it.

Inline editing retains the BSON type. Complex values use a source popup; you can also right-click and choose Edit value. Edit the value, then choose Done. Invalid input remains editable with an explanation.

The root _id is immutable. View, aggregation and Shell results are read-only; open the underlying collection in a normal query tab to edit its documents.

Understand when changes are saved

Immediate save is enabled by default for property edits. Completing a valid property edit writes that document. Each document has its own Immediate save checkbox, and Settings → Documents controls the default.

With Immediate save off, changed fields have unsaved markers. Choose Save Changes to save the document's pending edits together, or Discard Changes to restore the loaded values. Turning Immediate save on does not itself save; the next completed property edit includes any other pending edits to that document.

Full-document source editing has an explicit Save action that writes immediately, regardless of the property-edit setting. Use the optional original/proposed preview to compare the draft before saving.

Insert or duplicate

Choose Insert document… from the collection menu or the action above query results. Enter one document object:

{
  name: "Example customer",
  active: true,
  createdAt: ISODate("2026-09-27T09:00:00Z"),
  creditLimit: Decimal128("1250.00")
}

Omit _id for a generated ObjectId, or provide your own valid ID. Choose Insert document to write. The current query filter does not add fields to your inserted document.

To start from existing data, right-click a complete result row and choose Duplicate document…. The new draft omits only the root _id. Review other unique fields before inserting; nested IDs remain intact.

After insertion, rerun the query to recalculate matching rows and ordering. A newly inserted document may not match the current filter.

Rename fields and apply wider changes

Use Rename property from a field's context menu to change its name. Property editors also expose wider scopes where the operation is supported: All documents matching the query or All documents in the collection.

Choose the scope deliberately, review the generated operation and matching count, then confirm the bulk action. A query-wide change is not limited to the currently loaded page. Availability depends on the field path and pending edits. Bulk operations are not a multi-document transaction, and another client may change matching data between counting and execution.

Delete and handle conflicts

Right-click a full, unprojected result row and choose Delete document. Review the connection, collection and ID in the confirmation before deleting. Save or discard local changes to that document first.

Palryn checks the original document snapshot when saving or deleting. A conflict means the server document no longer matches it. An unknown outcome means the write may have reached MongoDB but could not be confirmed. Keep the draft for reference and inspect a fresh query before deciding what to do next; these outcomes are not automatically retried.