User Batch Upload Tips and Tricks

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Create New User Accounts:

1. Open a new spreadsheet file.

2. In the LMS, go to the Users page, then click the User Batch icon.

3. Use the table on the page as a guide as to which user data to put in which column in the spreadsheet.

4. Save the spreadsheet as an Excel workbook (for your records).

5. Save the spreadsheet as a tab-delimited text file (.txt).

6. From the User Batch page, upload the tab-delimited text file.

Things to keep in mind:

- DO NOT put headers ("First Name", "Last Name", "Username", etc) in your spreadsheet.

- New user batch uploads must include ALL required data (rows marked "Yes" in the required column in the table on the user batch page).

- If you need to add additional profile information for users that you do not want users to be able to see or edit, go to "User Field Configuration," and check the boxes for "View" and "Modify" under only the "Admin View" column next to the fields you wish to be able to include in the batch upload. When you go back to the batch upload page, you will now be able to see the data for the corresponding columns in the guide table on the page.

- Make sure there are not more rows in your spreadsheet than there are users that you are trying to upload (i.e. if there is data in a cell [or several cells] in a row [or several rows] after your last row [because you had to select the entire column to fill all of the cells in that column with the same data, and it filled all the way to the bottom row of the document, row #2000 or so], delete the extra rows below your last row of data [select all rows below your last row of data, right click, and click "Delete"]).

- Whenever you have a field in your batch that takes multiple selections, separate the items with a comma (i.e. Item1, Item2, Item3, etc). If you have exported a spreadsheet to a tab-delimited text file, before you upload the file, open up the text file and take the quotes " " out of the columns with multiple selections. If you have LOTS of rows of data, and it would be tedious to take out the quotation marks one at a time, click "Edit" > "Replace." Put a quotation mark in the "Find what:" box, and put NOTHING in the "Replace with:" box, then click "Replace All."

- When you export the tab-delimited text file, open it, go to the very bottom, click after the very last "END" so that the cursor is blinking right after "END," and press the right arrow button on your keyboard. If the cursor jumps down to a new line, or tabs after the last "END," delete the extra line/tab, so that the cursor blinks only next to the D of the very last "END," and save your text file.

Update Existing User Accounts:

1. Go to Reports, create a new report from the User Demographics dataset, select ALL fields to be pulled in the report, run the report, and save it as an Excel spreadsheet.

2. Open the report spreadsheet you just downloaded, and open a new blank spreadsheet, as this will be your batch upload spreadsheet.

3. In the LMS, go to the Users page, then click the User Batch icon.

4. Using the table on the page as a guide, copy and paste the columns from the report spreadsheet into the batch upload spreadsheet (i.e. copy and paste the "First Name" column from the report spreadsheet into Column A in the batch upload spreadsheet, copy and paste the "Last Name" column from the report spreadsheet into Column C in the batch upload spreadsheet, etc).

5. Once all of the data is filled out in the batch upload spreadsheet, delete the very first row of headers ("First Name", "Last Name", etc) and save the file as an Excel workbook, for your records.

6. Save the spreadsheet as a tab-delimited text file.

7. From the User Batch page, upload the tab-delimited text file.

Things to keep in mind...

- All data is tied to username. Be sure the usernames in the batch upload file are accurate to the usernames in the system.

- Required data (rows marked "Yes" in the required column in the table on the user batch page) is NOT required when updating existing user accounts through a User Batch Upload.

- DO NOT include new users to the system and users already in the system in the SAME batch upload. Keep new user batch uploads and existing user batch update files separate, and upload them separately.

- If you need to add additional profile information for users that you do not want users to be able to see or edit, go to "User Field Configuration," and check the boxes for "View" and "Modify" under only the "Admin View" column next to the fields you wish to be able to include in the batch upload. When you go back to the batch upload page, you will now be able to see the data for the corresponding columns in the guide table on the page.

- Make sure there are not more rows in your spreadsheet than there are users that you are trying to upload (i.e. if there is data in a cell [or several cells] in a row [or several rows] after your last row [because you had to select the entire column to fill all of the cells in that column with the same data, and it filled all the way to the bottom row of the document, row #2000 or so], delete the extra rows below your last row of data [select all rows below your last row of data, right click, and click "Delete"]).

- Whenever you have a field in your batch that takes multiple selections, separate the items with a comma (i.e. Item1, Item2, Item3, etc). If you have exported a spreadsheet to a tab-delimited text file, before you upload the file, open up the text file and take the quotes " " out of the columns with multiple selections. If you have LOTS of rows of data, and it would be tedious to take out the quotation marks one at a time, click "Edit" > "Replace." Put a quotation mark in the "Find what:" box, and put NOTHING in the "Replace with:" box, then click "Replace All."

- When you export the tab-delimited text file, open it, go to the very bottom, click after the very last "END" so that the cursor is blinking right after "END," and press the right arrow button on your keyboard. If the cursor jumps down to a new line, or tabs after the last "END," delete the extra line/tab, so that the cursor blinks only next to the D of the very last "END," and save your text file.