Important
It is not possible for a Student, Parent or Teacher to create their own account, and an Administrator on your school's account will need to create user accounts for users to access.
Adding Users Individually
Via Settings > School Directory
Via Settings > School Directory, click Add User.
Adding a Student
Select Student under User type and complete the required fields:
- First Name, Last Name, and a unique E-mail address* are all required fields regardless of User type.
- For a student, you must select an IB Group or IB PYP Homeroom Class.
- If the student's parent has already been added to the account, type the parent name/s and select from the dropdown. The parent will then be able to track the student's academic progress from their own ManageBac account.
You also have the option of choosing their user interface language from the dropdown menu. Click Add User to save.
*Note: Users can be created with fake emails (e.g. henry.e@eduvo.com) if they do not have email addresses.
Adding a Parent
Select Parent under User type and complete the required fields.
You also have the option of choosing their user interface language from the dropdown menu. All parents must be attached to at least one child. To add a child, type the children's name/s and select from the dropdown. Click Add User to save.
Adding a Classroom Teacher or Activity/Homeroom Advisor
Select Teacher/Advisor under User type and complete the required fields.
You also have the option of choosing their user interface language from the dropdown menu. Click Add User to save.
Adding an Administrator
Select Account Admin under User type and complete the required fields.
You also have the option of choosing their user interface language from the dropdown menu. Click Add User to save.
Adding Users via Bulk Import
Via Settings > Import Manager > select user type Students, Parents or Teachers
Rather than adding users manually one at a time, you can add many users at once via bulk import. To do this, download our CSV (comma separated values) template file for the user type you wish to import and add the user's data. The required user data will be different for each user type and must match the CSV template exactly. If you prefer to add users one by one, click here for further guidance.
The following user types can be added via bulk import: Students, Parents and Teachers.
The following users can have their information updated via bulk import: Students and Parents.
This article contains the following sections:
- Overview video
- Important Notes Regarding CSV Imports
- Importing Students
- Student Error Messages
- Importing Parents
- Parent Error Messages
- Importing Teachers
- Teacher Error Messages
- Sending Welcome Emails
- ISO Supported Countries, Languages & Nationalities
How to Import Users
CSV Importing Help
You will need to have access to a programme like Microsoft Excel or OpenOffice Calc to complete CSV imports.
Here are some important things to keep in mind when completing CSV templates:
- The file must be saved as CSV UTF-8 to support special character encoding.
- The first row of the CSV file is the header row and must be included in the file.
- The header row should not be altered from the template as downloaded from the import pages, keep all required columns, even if you are only importing the required fields.
- If updating existing users, empty columns of data in the file will not overwrite existing data for that user.
- The content in your CSV file is case-sensitive and space-sensitive.
- Student grade level must match what you have entered on your account settings (via Settings > Grades & Programmes), e.g. if your account settings say Grade 12, you cannot fill in GRADE 12 in all caps and cannot fill in Grade12 without a space.
- Dates must be formatted according to DD-MM-YYYY, e.g. June 12, 2002, should be formatted as 12-06-2002.
- Required fields must be filled in. Any missing required fields will cause an error in the system. Required fields for each user type are listed in the sections below.
- If your CSV contains more than 200 records to import, please split the CSV files in sections so that there is only a maximum of 200 entries per file.
Updating Existing Users
If you are updating the information for any users with existing ManageBac accounts, please select "Update existing student/parent/teacher accounts" when importing so the system knows not to create duplicate accounts for them. This does not require you to separate new and existing users into two different spreadsheets. It only tells the system that your spreadsheet also contains existing users and does not try to create new accounts for these.
Important Note:
- It is not possible for schools to bulk update passwords of existing users. If users are imported with new passwords, this will create duplicate users. Please email support@managebac.com to request this kind of update and provide the following: user's existing email, user's password.
- Schools are able to bulk update student email addresses via Settings > School Directory > Bulk Update > Update E-mails. The required information for a bulk email update includes the existing student email address or student ID (if entered) and the new email address. See our guide on Editing User Profiles (Names, Emails, Personal Information) for more information.
Student Import Requirements
Navigate to Settings > Import Manager > Students and download our CSV template. Complete the required Student Fields, save the file as CSV UTF+8 and upload.
| Header Field | Description |
|---|---|
| Student ID |
The student ID can be a combination of numbers and letters, depending on your school’s ID format. This field is not required but strongly recommended. It is best to use the same unique identifier as on other student information systems used at the school if any. |
| First Name | Required. The student's first name. This will be used in official reports, so please match as written on their passports. |
| Middle Name | The student's middle name. This will be used in official reports, so please match as written on their passports. If the student does not have a middle name, please leave blank. |
| Last Name |
Required. The student's last name. This will be used in official reports, so please match as written on their passports. If the last name is not used in your country, you can use another symbol in its place (e.g. comma, period, underscore) |
| Preferred Name | The student's preferred name. If the same as First Name or none, leave blank. |
| Other Name | Use this field if you wish to include the student’s name in a second language. If none, leave blank. |
| E-mail Address |
Required for all students except IB PYP students. All students must have a unique email address, which should be different from the parent email. Recommended to use valid emails as all notifications from ManageBac will be sent to this email address. PYP Exception: This field can be left for PYP students and a fake email will be automatically assigned. |
| Grade |
Required. The student's grade level must match the label entered in your Grades & Programme Settings, e.g. Year 12, or Grade 12. If unsure, navigate to 'Settings > Grades & Programmes' on your account. |
| Programme |
Required. This is the academic programme that the user is completing at your school and must match one of the programmes enabled for your school. You can find a full list of enabled Academic Programmes by navigating to Settings > School Settings > Academics. Enter either the full programme name (IB Diploma) or the abbreviation (IB DP) from the list below: International Baccalaureate:
Pearson Edexcel:
Cambridge Assessment International Education:
The College Board:
National Curriculum*:
*Additional Note: If your school isn’t using the default National Curriculum programme titles listed above, please enter the full title or the abbreviation for HS/MS/PS as you have customised in the Academic Programmes Settings. |
| Year Group |
Required for all students except for IB PYP students. Students on ManageBac are organised by year group. A year group is a batch or the cohort of a graduating class. A suggested year group title may be the year they will be completing their programme, e.g. Cambridge Class of 2022 or IB Diploma Class of 2023 If you haven't created any year groups, they will be automatically created for you based on what you have entered. If you have already created year groups on ManageBac, please enter the title of the year group without the grade level found in parentheses, e.g. Class of 2022, instead of Class of 2022 (Grade 10). Please make sure that all students belonging to the same year group have the exact spelling and capitalisation of the Year Group title, or a new one will be created for each variation. PYP Exception: This field should be left blank for IB PYP students. |
| Gender | The student's gender can currently be Male or Female or can be left blank. We recognise that these gender categories may not represent all users at your school and are working towards supporting custom gender categories. |
| Date of Birth | The student's date of birth. Dates must be formatted as DD-MM-YYYY or DD/MM/YYYY, e.g. June 12, 2002, is formatted as 12-06-2002 or 12/06/2002 |
| Mobile Phone | The student's mobile phone number. |
| National ID | The student's National ID number (e.g. Passport number) |
| 1st Nationality | The student's nationality must be entered in ISO code format, e.g. GR for Greek. If unsure, please download the Supported Nationalities |
| 2nd Nationality | Any additional nationalities must also be entered in ISO code format and entered in their individual cells. |
| 3rd Nationality | See 2nd Nationality. |
| 4th Nationality | See 2nd Nationality. |
| 1st Language | The student's first language must be entered in ISO code format, e.g. SPA for Spanish. If unsure, please download the Supported Languages |
| 2nd Language | Any additional languages that the student speaks must also be entered in ISO code format and entered in their individual cells. |
| 3rd Language | See 2nd Language. |
| 4th Language | See 2nd Language. |
| Address | The student's Home Address Line 1 (Street address) |
| Address 2 | The student's Home Address Line 2 (Suite or Apartment number, Floor, etc.) |
| Phone Number | The student's home phone number |
| City | The student's Home address - City |
| State/Province | The student's Home address - State or Province |
| Postal Code | The student's Home address - Postal or Zipcode |
| Country | The student's Home address - Country. The user's country must be entered in ISO code format, e.g. SE for Sweden. If unsure, please download the Supported Countries. |
| UI Language | Preferred UI Language. This is set to English by default. Currently available UI languages: English, Spanish, or French. |
| Enrollment Date | The student's enrollment start date at your school. This will default to the current term’s start date if left blank. |
| Password |
The student’s ManageBac account password. This can be set by when importing new users so that students don’t have to create their own passwords. For security measures, please make sure that you do not set the same default password for each student - the import system will not be able to import the passwords if they are the same for each user. Note: Passwords cannot be updated in bulk for students with existing accounts on ManageBac. Passwords can only be set when creating new accounts. |
| Graduation Date | The student’s graduation date. Assigning a graduation date for the student will archive their account. Please do not set until the student has graduated. |
| Withdrawal Date | The student's withdrawal date from your school. Assigning a withdrawal date for the student will archive their account. Please do not set until the student has left the school. |
Common Student Import Error Messages
Below are a few common error messages that you may encounter when importing students into ManageBac.
Check the Row Number that the error occurs in, which is shown next to the error message, and correct the error on your file. Save as CSV (UTF-8) and re-upload the updated file.
Every account on ManageBac requires a unique email address as the core identifier to which all the user data is tied to. Emails must be unique and formatted correctly with local-part@domain, e.g. sara.chen@gmail.com
Here are some of the error messages related to emails that you may see:
- Email can't be blank: This error appears if the email field is blank. Add the user's email & re-upload.
- Email is missing or invalid: This error appears if the email entered doesn't follow the correct format, e.g. student@schoolemail.com
- Email is too short (minimum is 3 characters): This error appears less than 3 characters have been added to the email field. Please enter an email in the correct format and try again.
- Email has already been taken / Email belongs to [Name]: This error appears when an account with the same email address already exists. Specify a different, unique email address.
What is a Year Group? A year group is the batch or cohort of students that will be completing the programme in the same year
We would recommend naming the year group according to when the group of students would be graduating, instead of the current year level. E.g. use 'Class of 2023' instead of 'Grade 11 Class'
An error message you might run into is:
- Please enter an IB Year Group name to add the student to (e.g. IBDP Class of 2023): This error appears when the year group field is blank. Add the year group and re-upload your file.
Grade refers to the student's year/grade level they will be starting at your school, e.g. Year 1, Grade 12, etc. The grade level must match what has been entered in your school's ManageBac Settings as these are customisable per school.
If you're unsure, navigate to your Settings > Grades & Programmes page to confirm.
If what you have entered doesn't match the Grades & Programmes page, you may run into this error message:
- The Grade level is either disabled or incorrect. Please enter a grade which matches the year labels you have set here. : This error message appears when the grade level field doesn't match your account settings. Enter the grade level that has been configured for your account, and re-upload the file.
Programme refers to which curriculum programme the student is completing at your school, e.g. IB Diploma, Cambridge IGCSEs, High School, etc.
The programmes enabled for your school can be found listed at the top of the page via Settings > Grades & Programmes.
An error message you might run into says:
- Programme is missing or invalid: This error appears if the programme field is blank, or if the programme entered doesn't match the programme(s) on ManageBac. Please enter the programme names or their abbreviation, as listed below, and re-upload your file:
International Baccalaureate:
- IB Diploma / IB DP
- IB Career-related Programme / IB CP
- IB Middle Years / IB MYP
- IB Primary Years/ IB PYP
Pearson Edexcel:
- Pearson Edexcel International Advanced Levels / Ed A Level
- Pearson Edexcel BTEC / Ed BTEC
- Pearson Edexcel IGCSEs / Ed IGCSE
Cambridge Assessment International Education:
- Cambridge Advanced / CAIE A Level
- Cambridge IGCSEs / CAIE IGCSE
- Cambridge Lower Secondary / CAIE LS
The College Board:
- Advanced Placement / AP
National Curriculum*:
- High School / HS
- Middle School / MS
- Primary School / PS
*If your school isn’t using the default National Curriculum programme titles listed above, please enter the full title or the abbreviation for HS/MS/PS as you have customised in the Academic Programmes Settings.
First and last names are required fields on ManageBac. This is also what is populated to any report cards or exported official documents, so please make sure that this has been filled in.
If left blank, the error messages that you may see are:
- First name can't be blank: This error message appears when the first name field is missing. Fill in the first name and re-upload the file.
- Last name can't be blank: This error message appears when the last name field is missing. Fill in the last name and re-upload the file. If last name is not used in your country, you can use another symbol in it’s place (e.g. comma, period, underscore).
Dates on ManageBac must be in a DD-MM-YYYY or DD/MM/YYYY format. For example, if a student's date of birth is August 17, 2001, the date is formatted as 17-08-2001 or 17/08/2001.
If you haven't followed the given format, an error message you might see is:
- Birthday format is invalid (please specify a full 4-digits year): This error message appears when the date format is incorrect. Please enter the date of birth in the required format, and re-upload the file.
Parents/Guardians Import Requirements
Creating parent accounts allows parents to view their child's academic progress via ManageBac.
Navigate to Settings > Import > Parents and download our CSV template. Complete the required Parent Fields outlined below, save the file as CSV UTF-8 and upload.
Notes on importing Parents/Guardians
- Student accounts must be created before parent accounts.
- If two or more parents share one email address, they can share the same account on ManageBac, but the email address cannot be the same for two separate ManageBac accounts.
- If a parent is also a teacher at the school, the parent & teacher accounts must be created with separate email addresses. The two accounts can be linked using ManageBac’s Accounts Portal Single Sign On (SSO) feature, and the user can switch between accounts effortlessly. Learn more about how to use the Accounts SSO here
| Header Field | Description |
|---|---|
| Student ID | The student’s Student ID number on ManageBac. |
| Student E-mail | Required. The student email address. This links the parent to the student on ManageBac. |
| Salutation | The parent's preferred salutation, e.g. Mr., Mrs., Ms., Dr. |
| First name | Required. The parent's first name |
| Middle Name | The parent’s middle name |
| Last name | Required. The parent's last name |
| Preferred Name | The parent’s preferred name. If same as First Name, leave as blank. |
| Other Name | The parent’s other name. If none, leave as blank. |
| E-mail Address | Required. The parent’s valid and unique email address. Each account on ManageBac requires a unique email address. |
| Relationship | The parent’s relationship to the student, e.g. Mother |
| Gender | The gender categories currently supported are Male, Female, or can be left blank. We recognise that these gender categories may not represent all users at your school and are working towards supporting custom gender categories. |
| Date of Birth | The parent’s date of birth. The date must be formatted as DD-MM-YYYY or DD/MM/YYYY. For example, April 3, 1975, is formatted as 03-04-1975 or 03/04/1975. |
| Title | The parent’s job title |
| Employer | The parent’s employer |
| Mobile Phone | The parent’s contact phone number |
| 1st Nationality | The parent's nationality must be entered in ISO code format, e.g. GR for Greek. If unsure, please download the Supported Nationalities |
| 2nd Nationality | Any additional nationalities must also be entered in the ISO code format and entered in their individual cells. |
| 3rd Nationality | See 2nd Nationality |
| 4th Nationality | See 2nd Nationality |
| 1st Language | The parent’s first language must be entered in ISO code format, e.g. SPA for Spanish. If unsure, please download the Supported Languages. |
| 2nd Language | Any additional languages that the parent speaks must also be entered in ISO code format and entered in their individual cells. |
| 3rd Language | See 2nd Language |
| 4th Language | See 2nd Language |
| Work E-mail | The parent’s work email address |
| Work Phone | The parent’s work contact phone number |
| Work Address | The parent’s work address - Address Line 1 (Street address) |
| Work Address 2 | The parent’s work address - Address Line 2 (Suite or Apartment number, Floor, etc.) |
| Work Fax | The parent’s work fax number |
| Work City | The parent’s work address - City |
| Work State | The parent’s work address - State or Province |
| Work Postal Code | The parent’s work address - Postal or Zip Code |
| Work Country | The parent’s work address - Country. The country must be entered in ISO code format, e.g. SE for Sweden. If unsure, please download the Supported Countries. |
| Address | The parent’s Home address - Address Line 1 (Street address) |
| Address 2 | The parent’s Home address - Address Line 2 (Suite or Apartment number, Floor, etc.) |
| Phone Number | The parent’s Home phone number |
| City | The parent’s Home address - City |
| State/Province | The parent’s Home address - State or Province |
| Postal Code | The parent’s Home address - Postal or Zip Code |
| Country | The parent’s Home address - Country. The country must be entered in ISO code format, e.g. SE for Sweden. If unsure, please download the Supported Countries. |
| UI Language | Preferred User Interface Language for the parent. This is set to English by default. Current available Parent interface languages: English, Spanish, Arabic, French, Chinese (Simplified or Traditional) or Japanese. |
| Password |
The parent’s ManageBac account password. This can be set by when importing new users so that parents don’t have to create their own passwords. For security measures, please make sure that you do not set the same default password for each parent - the import system will not be able to import the passwords if they are the same for each user. Note: Passwords cannot be updated in bulk for parents with existing accounts on ManageBac. Passwords can only be set when creating new accounts. |
Common Parent Error Messages
Some error messages you might run into are:
- First name can't be blank: This error appears when the first name field is missing. Fill in the first name and re-upload the file.
- Last name can't be blank: This error appears when the last name field is missing. Fill in the last name and re-upload the file. If last name is not used in your country, you can use another symbol in it’s place (e.g. comma, period, underscore).
- Email can't be blank: This error appears if the email field is blank. Add the user's email and re-upload the file.
- Email has already been taken / Email belongs to [Name]: This error appears when an account with the same email address already exists. Note that different emails must be used to create two separate parent accounts. Specify another email address and re-upload the file.
- Email is missing or invalid: This error appears if the email field is blank or if the email entered doesn't follow the format parent@email.com and re-upload the file.
The student ID or email must be included when importing parents. If unsure of the student's ID or email, navigate to Settings > School Directory to confirm.
Only one student's information can be entered per row. The screenshot above is an example of how to import parents and link to more than one child, where rows 1-2 list the Mother and rows 4-5 list the Father of the same children.
If you are missing either the student ID or email address, or if neither of the student information match an existing student on your account, you might run into this error message:
- Student not found with the student ID [example: 12345] or email [example: student@school.edu]: This error message occurs when the student information entered doesn't match any existing users in the system. Please enter the information of an existing student in order to tie the parent and student accounts together and re-upload the file.
Teachers Import Requirements
Navigate to Settings > Import > Teachers and download our CSV template. Complete the required Teacher Fields outlined below, save the file as CSV UTF+8 and upload.
If a teacher is also a parent at the school, the teacher & parent accounts must be created with separate email addresses. The two accounts can be linked using ManageBac’s Accounts Portal Single Sign On (SSO) feature, and the user can switch between accounts effortlessly. Learn more about how to use the Accounts SSO here
| Header Field | Description |
|---|---|
| First Name | Required. The teacher’s first name. |
| Middle Name | The teacher’s middle name. |
| Last Name | Required. The teacher’s last name. |
| E-mail Address | Required. The teacher’s email address. This must be a unique and valid email address for each teacher. |
Common Teacher Error Messages
Some error messages you might run into are:
- First name can't be blank: This error appears when the first name field is missing. Fill in the first name and re-upload the file.
- Last name can't be blank: This error appears when the last name field is missing. Fill in the last name and re-upload the file. If last name is not used in your country, you can use another symbol in its place (e.g. comma, period, underscore).
- Email can't be blank: This error appears if the email field is blank. Add the user's email and re-upload the file.
- Email has already been taken / Email belongs to [Name]: This error appears when an account with the same email address already exists. Specify another email address and re-upload the file.
- Email is missing or invalid: This error appears if the email field is blank or if the email entered doesn't follow the format teacher@schoolemail.com. Correct the email address and re-upload the file.
Sending Welcome Emails
Before importing users, confirm if you wish to send welcome emails now or later. We recommend waiting until the rest of the account is set up (e.g. students & teachers are in classes) before sending welcome emails.
The welcome email is sent to the user's email address and includes a link to set their ManageBac password and access their ManageBac account. The password link is valid for 30 days, so make sure the user already has access to their inbox before sending it.
See our tutorials below for further guidance on:
- How to send welcome emails when you're ready
- How to make passwords easier for students and/or parents to create