How to Bulk Upload Users to your LMS

If you're required to upload multiple users onto your LMS at the same time, you can do this via the Bulk upload tool. This is done through a text (CSV) file.

Table of Contents

1. CSV Template
2. User Passwords
3. User Segments
4. Custom Profile Fields
5. Courses and Course Groups
6. Bulk Upload Users

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CSV Template

You can use the template attached at the bottom of this page if you would like to bulk upload users to your LMS.

These are the 4 required fields for doing bulk uploads:

username: only alphabetical lowercase letters, numbers, hyphen (-), underscore (_), period (.), or at-sign (@).

‍Most clients prefer using the email address as the username to simplify the process

firstname: only text (capitals allowed)

lastname: only text (capitals allowed)

email: name@example.com

You can also add the following optional fields:

password: alphabetical lowercase/uppercase letters, numbers, hypen (-), underscore (_), period (.), or at-sign (@).

department: Upload users into existing user segments. Use the User Segment Short name as the field value.

profile_field_profile_field_shortname: Upload custom profile field information.

course1: Upload users to existing courses. Use the course shortname as the field value.

group1: Upload users to existing course groups. Use course group shortname as the field value.

User Passwords

You may wish to create a default password for all the users you are bulk uploading. You can do this by adding and additional column to your sheet with "password" as the column heading:

*Note: You will need to indicate that you have included a password in your file when defining your upload settings during the bulk upload - instructions follow at the end of the guide.

User Segments

You can upload users into existing user segments when bulk uploading to your LMS. You can do this by adding and additional column to your sheet with "department" as the column heading.

Before doing so, you will need to create user segments on your LMS. When you create a user segment, you will be prompted to enter a User Segment shortname as shown below - it is the User Segment short name that will be used in your bulk upload:

Custom Profile Fields

You can upload custom user data to existing custom profile fields when bulk uploading to your LMS. You can do this by adding and additional column to your sheet with "profile_field_profile_field_shortname" as the column heading.

Before doing so, you will need to create custom profile fields in your LMS. When you create a custom profile field, you will be prompted to enter a unique shortname as shown below - it is this short name that will be used in your bulk upload.

For example:

If your short name is "employment_status", then you can add "profile_field_employment_status" as a column in your sheet in order to bulk upload information to this new custom field:

Courses and Course Groups

You can upload users to existing courses and course groups when bulk uploading to your LMS. You can do this by adding additional columns to your sheet with "course1" (for course uploads) and "group1" (for course group uploads) as the column heading.

Before doing so, you will need to create courses and course groups in your LMS. When you create a courses and course groups, you will be prompted to enter a unique short name as shown below - it is this short name that will be used in your bulk upload.

Bulk Upload Users

Step 1: Click on "Site admin", followed by "User Management", then "Bulk upload users."

Step 2: Upload your populated CSV file and then click on "Bulk upload users via CSV."

*Note: If you use a Apple computer ensure that your CSV delimiter is a "," (Comma). If you are using a Windows computer ensure that your CSV delimiter is a ";" (Semicolon).

Step 3: Set your Upload Type: When uploading new users, the best fit is "Add new only, skip existing users." When needing to update users only, select “update existing users only”

Step 4: Review user information and define your upload settings.

Review Upload type: confirm this is correct

New user password: If you have added a "password" column to your Excel sheet to create a default password for your users, you can select "Field required in file." (Please remember that you will need to manually notify these users of their password, or point them to your "forgotten login details button").If you would like the system to generate a unique password for each user and notify them via the email address provided in the bulk upload, you can select "Create password if needed and send via email."

Step 5: Once you're happy, you can click on "Bulk upload users via CSV." Check that there are no errors and click "Continue."