I want to edit the metadata of the media in a bin using the data from an existing .csv log file. I tried exporting the current metadata of the media as an ALE, editing it in TextEditor by pasting into the file the relevant metadata and saving the updated ALE file. But when I went to import it back into the bin in Media Composer, it crashes. 

Any suggestions on how to effectively edit an ALE to adjust its data? Thanks!

Here is the workflow we have used in the past for updating/changing metadata using an ALE:

In your AVID project, open your master video bin, and highlight all the master media-

With the media selected, right click and select import media-

In the import window that opens, click Options, and the options window will open. Within the options window, under the 'Shot Log' tab, make sure "Merge events with known master clips" is selected. Click OK.

Now highlight the ALEs and click Open.

The ALEs will import and the metadata will merge with your existing clips. You SAT and SOP columns should now be filled.

Good luck.

Thanks for your response Dale! What you said all makes sense. I've given it a try, but the issue I'm having is that my 'source' metadata is in a csv format, not ALE. Any suggestions on how I can bulk import metadata from a csv format into an ALE? 

The CSV file needs to be converted to a tab delimited format with a proper ALE header to import correctly. Find an existing ALE and "borrow" the header format which consists of a few lines up top describing the format then followed by the column headers in a tab delimited line. Your tab delimited data goes under the column headers line. Best to use a text editor to merge the files as a spreadsheet export will have too many tab delimited fields on the first few lines and won't import properly.