How to Create a Comma-Separated (CSV) Student List

Overview

There are multiple actions throughout Student Success & Engagement that optionally use a comma-separated list of Student IDs in order to apply a "bulk-action" to many students at once.

For example, the following areas utilize a comma-separated student list:

• Tag Bulk Assignment (Tags Administration -> Assign Students to Tag)
• Student Filters (Create a Filter -> Student List)

When creating a list of students, it is important to include leading zeros if zeros are part of the Student ID.

• If the Student IDs have leading zeros and the list of student IDs does not include these leading zeros then SS&E will not be able to find any students.

How to Generate a Student List CSV

In order to generate a comma-separated list of students, first create a list in Excel and then use Excel or an online tool to generate the CSV file.

1. One common way is to create a CSV list from an Excel column.  This can be done by using the columns to rows feature in Excel and saving it as a CSV file. Then copying the student list from the CSV file into SS&E.
2. Alternatively, you can use an online tool like the one found here to convert a column of student IDs into a comma-separated student list.

How to Add Leading Zeros to the Student List

If the bulk tag assignment is not working, or the student filter is empty and does not display any students in the student filter results, then most likely the reason is that the data is not formatted properly to include leading zeros. There are many ways to accomplish this, yet the most common are:

How to add leading zeros in Excel

1. Before entering the Student Id numbers into Excel - Format the cell range as "Text" so that Excel does not remove the leading zeros from your data (select the cell range, right-click to select Number Format...-> Text -> Ok).
2. After the Student Id numbers are entered into Excel - Format the cell range as "Custom", and then enter zeros for the number of digits that are in a Student Id to fill in leading zeros automatically on the selected data (select the data, right-click to select Number Format...-> Custom -> Enter the number of zeros that represent the number of digits in a Student Id-> select Ok).

How to add leading zeros in Google Sheets

1. Before entering the Student Id numbers into Excel  - Format the cells range as "Text" (Select the cell range -> Format -> Number -> Plain text) so that the data includes leading zeros.
2. After the Student Id numbers are entered into Google Sheets - Format the cell range as "Custom" (Select the data -> Format -> Number -> Custom Number Format), and then enter zeros for the number of digits that are in a Student Id to fill in leading zeros automatically on the selected data..