Import Student Data

Presto Assistant supports importing CSV data to quickly get up and running. The time estimate varies depending on your data. Let's dig in!

Prerequisites #

  1. You should have a Presto Assistant organization set up.
    • Need to set up an organization? This article will show you how.
  2. You should have data in a file using the "Comma-separated Values" CSV format. This could be data that you have exported from another tool like Google Sheets or Excel.

Quick steps #

  1. Make a copy your CSV data file and open the copy.
  2. Change the column header names to the Presto Assistant column header names.
  3. Remove any extra columns and save the file.
  4. Import the new CSV file into Presto Assistant.
  5. Preview the first 10 rows of data that you are importing. If all looks good, then press the purple Import button.

Detailed steps #

  1. Open the target CSV file that contains your data.

    • We suggest that you make a copy of your data since we are going to be updating this CSV file directly.
    • If you have a file in another format like XLS, use your spreadsheet program to export the data to "Comma-separated Values" (CSV) format for use with Presto.

  2. From the Director's Dashboard, click the Students item in the left navigation menu.

Dashboard with arrow pointing at Students item in left navigation menu.

Click the Students item from the left navigation menu
  1. Click the triple-dot "More Actions" icon button at the top right of the table.

Students table highlighting location of the more actions icon button.

Click the "More Actions" icon button
  1. If you are creating the student data for the first time in this organization, click on Import new students.
    • Don't use this option if any of the student data already exists in this organization. Use "Import student updates" to update the data for students that are already in your organization.

Expanded more actions menu highlighting the menu item that reads Import new students.

Select "Import new students"
  1. The "Add students" dialog will show the REQUIRED and OPTIONAL fields for this area of Presto Assistant (pictured below).
    • You can also download the template as a CSV format. That template has all of the column headers for your organization, both REQUIRED and OPTIONAL.
      • You will also see column headers for Dynamic Fields if you district uses that feature of Presto.

Add students dialog pictured with required fields highlighted.

Only the "REQUIRED" fields need to be added to start

  1. Adjust your CSV file to use the Presto Assistant column headers format. For example, your data might have Full Name which would need to split into firstName and lastName to follow the Presto way.

    • Capitalization and spacing doesn't matter for these fields. We will treat "first Name" and "Firstname" the same way.

  2. Remove any extra columns and save the file.

  3. When you get your data just right, then it’s time to import it into Presto! With the Presto Assistant Import new students dialog open, you can drop the updated CSV file on that area. The system will begin to make sure your data is formed correctly.

  4. The second step of the import process will show you a preview of the "good" and "bad" rows that we detect (pictured below). This is a chance to correct any issues like missing “required” fields in some rows.

    • If you see a note about bad rows, hover over the exclamation point icon to learn what needs to be fixed to make that row work.
    • If bad rows are present, you can still import the rest of the data. The system will ignore the bad rows.
    • See the Troubleshooting section below for more help.

A preview of good rows is shown.

View a preview of "Good" rows
  1. If all data looks good, then press the purple Import button. Your data will be available in the system within a few seconds. Presto means fast!

Things to keep in mind #

  • Instead of adding “test data”, please use real data. Presto Assistant never really deletes any data, and using your real data will keep things cleaner for you later on. You probably don’t want to see “Test Student - test@student.com” in your data. Also, your program numbers will be wrong if you add fake data.
  • When importing Student data, keep in mind that all individual Presto Assistant users must have a separate email address. Students and parents cannot share an email address. In that regard Presto behaves like most other web applications in the modern era.
  • If your district has an email system set up, we suggest using that email for students in Presto Assistant.

Troubleshooting #

  • If you see an alert that says some rows have invalid data, press the "SHOW" button to see the rows that have issues.

A preview of good rows is shown and the alert about invalid data is highlighted.

Press the "SHOW" button if you have invalid data
  • All rows with invalid data will show. Hover over the exclamation point icon (or touch the icon on a mobile device) to see what needs to be fixed for that row's data.
    • You can choose to import all good data right now and come back to fix the issues later.
    • If you fix the issues right now, hit the Cancel button to restart the import process for new student data.

A preview of good rows is shown and the alert about invalid data is highlighted.

Hover or press the exclamation point icon to see issues for each row
  • If you see an error message notification appear with odd symbols, it's likely that your file format is not CSV.
    • Export your file to a "Comma-separated Values" (CSV) format in your spreadsheet program and try to import it again.

Student import dialog with error message notification highlighted.

If you see odd symbols in the error message, check to make sure you are importing a CSV file

Did you know? #

All parts of Presto Assistant that support importing data work the same way. We aim to keep it simple.

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