Umbraco Collection Action

What is it?

Collection Actions are buttons that appear in a collection's toolbar, providing actions that can be performed on the collection as a whole (not on individual items - those are Entity Bulk Actions). Common examples include "Create New" buttons or export functionality. Actions can either execute code or navigate to a URL.

Documentation

Always fetch the latest docs before implementing:

• Main docs: https://docs.umbraco.com/umbraco-cms/customizing/extending-overview/extension-types/collections
• Collection View: https://docs.umbraco.com/umbraco-cms/customizing/extending-overview/extension-types/collections/collection-view
• Foundation: https://docs.umbraco.com/umbraco-cms/customizing/foundation
• Extension Registry: https://docs.umbraco.com/umbraco-cms/customizing/extending-overview/extension-registry

Related Foundation Skills

• Context API: For accessing collection context

  • Reference skill: umbraco-context-api

• Modals: When actions open modal dialogs

  • Reference skill: umbraco-modals

• Conditions: For controlling when actions appear

  • Reference skill: umbraco-conditions

Workflow

1. Fetch docs - Use WebFetch on the URLs above
2. Ask questions - What collection? What action to perform? Navigate or execute?
3. Generate files - Create manifest + action class based on latest docs
4. Explain - Show what was created and how to test

Minimal Examples

Manifest (manifests.ts)

import type { ManifestCollectionAction } from '@umbraco-cms/backoffice/extension-registry';

const manifest: ManifestCollectionAction = {
  type: 'collectionAction',
  alias: 'My.CollectionAction.Create',
  name: 'Create Item Action',
  api: () => import('./create-action.js'),
  meta: {
    label: 'Create New',
  },
  conditions: [
    {
      alias: 'Umb.Condition.CollectionAlias',
      match: 'My.Collection',
    },
  ],
};

export const manifests = [manifest];

Action Implementation (create-action.ts)

import { UmbCollectionActionBase } from '@umbraco-cms/backoffice/collection';
import type { UmbControllerHost } from '@umbraco-cms/backoffice/controller-api';

export class CreateAction extends UmbCollectionActionBase {
  constructor(host: UmbControllerHost) {
    super(host);
  }

  async execute() {
    // Perform the action
    console.log('Create action executed');
  }
}

export default CreateAction;

Link-based Action (using getHref)

import { UmbCollectionActionBase } from '@umbraco-cms/backoffice/collection';

export class CreateLinkAction extends UmbCollectionActionBase {
  async getHref() {
    // Return URL to navigate to
    return '/section/my-section/workspace/my-workspace/create';
  }

  async execute() {
    // Not called when getHref returns a value
  }
}

export default CreateLinkAction;

Action with Modal

import { UmbCollectionActionBase } from '@umbraco-cms/backoffice/collection';
import { UMB_MODAL_MANAGER_CONTEXT } from '@umbraco-cms/backoffice/modal';

export class ExportAction extends UmbCollectionActionBase {
  async execute() {
    const modalManager = await this.getContext(UMB_MODAL_MANAGER_CONTEXT);

    const modal = modalManager.open(this, MY_EXPORT_MODAL, {
      data: {
        collectionAlias: 'My.Collection',
      },
    });

    await modal.onSubmit();
  }
}

export default ExportAction;

Action with Additional Options Indicator

const manifest: ManifestCollectionAction = {
  type: 'collectionAction',
  alias: 'My.CollectionAction.CreateWithOptions',
  name: 'Create With Options',
  api: () => import('./create-options-action.js'),
  meta: {
    label: 'Create',
    additionalOptions: true, // Shows indicator that more options are available
  },
  conditions: [
    {
      alias: 'Umb.Condition.CollectionAlias',
      match: 'Umb.Collection.Document',
    },
  ],
};

Action Class with Additional Options

import { UmbCollectionActionBase } from '@umbraco-cms/backoffice/collection';

export class CreateWithOptionsAction extends UmbCollectionActionBase {
  async hasAdditionalOptions() {
    return true;
  }

  async execute() {
    // Show options menu or modal
  }
}

export default CreateWithOptionsAction;

Meta Properties

Property	Description
label	Required. Button text
href	Optional static URL (use getHref() for dynamic)
additionalOptions	Shows dropdown indicator if true

Common Collection Aliases for Conditions

• Umb.Collection.Document
• Umb.Collection.Media
• Umb.Collection.Member
• Umb.Collection.User
• Umb.Collection.DataType

That's it! Always fetch fresh docs, keep examples minimal, generate complete working code.