The Object Settings dialog can be used to edit the settings of multiple objects at the same time. This is accomplished by selected the objects before displaying the dialog.
When multiple objects are selected, the settings of the first selected object are displayed in the dialog. Once the dialog is closed, the settings are copied to all the other selected objects.
Problems will arise if the dialog is not used carefully. For example, if two meshes with different skeletons and animations are selected, once the dialog is closed the second mesh will have all its animations replaced with the animations from the first mesh.
If multiple unanimated meshes need to be modified then it's reasonable to modify them at once.
In all other cases the dialog should be used to modify just one object at a time.