Update multiple user accounts in CourseCloud

Note: The below describes our limited-access content delivery platform for early adopters. If you are not an early adopter, please see the section on CourseCloud Legacy.

These steps build upon the steps used to create multiple user accounts at once. If you are unfamiliar with them, please review that article first. To update users individually, see this article.

To update CourseCloud user accounts in bulk, you will need to add the existing users’ account information to a specific spreadsheet template and then upload that data to CourseCloud as a CSV file.

While CourseCloud will accept CSV files up to 64 MB in size, if you have a large learner population we recommend working in batches of 5,000 users at a time to keep processing times swift.

First, locate the template provided by your Customer Success Manager or Implementation Specialist. (You can also download it here.) It will look similar to this:

Each user should occupy their own row. For each person, add their first name, last name, and email address to the first columns. These three details are required for all user accounts, and email addresses must be entered entirely in lowercase.

While first and last names can be updated via this spreadsheet, by entering the new names in the appropriate fields, CourseCloud identifies each unique user by their email address. As a result, the addresses entered here must match what’s already attached to existing CourseCloud users—without them, CourseCloud won’t know which accounts to update. So when you need to change a user’s email address, please update their account individually.

The remaining columns are optional, and changes affect them as follows:

• A user’s password is reset whenever their account is updated, and the fourth column can be used to assign them a specific temporary password. When this column is left blank, CourseCloud will automatically generate the temporary passwords. (For greater security, all updated users are prompted to reset their password when they next log in.)
• If you’ve already created a department hierarchy in CourseCloud, you can use the next columns to add users to one or more existing departments. Use each department’s long name as it was created in CourseCloud, as shorthand names will not be recognized.
  • If users already belong to a department, they can be added to more but they cannot be removed via this spreadsheet. To remove users from a department, visit your dashboard and use the Department Users & Managers tool under the Users tab.
• The suspended column is used to update whether a user’s account is active. When a user is suspended, they cannot log in to or receive any further messages from CourseCloud. The values for this column are either 1 (suspended) or 0 (unsuspended). If this column is empty, CourseCloud will assume the default (unsuspended).
• The city and country columns allow you to update a user’s region. Their region is not visible to anyone in your organization aside from the user and other Learning Admins, and it will not impact the time zone of the user’s account. Users can update their profile to add or update this information later, if they wish.
  • Note that leaving these columns blank will overwrite any details that had previously been added to these fields.

Once you are satisfied with your spreadsheet, save it as a CSV file, and then log in to your Learning Administrator account in CourseCloud. (While spreadsheet tools vary, the option to choose a file type usually appears in the menu under either Save As or Download.)

When logged in, select Admin Tools at left and then the Users tab:

Click Upload users:

On the next page, select your CSV file by either clicking the Choose a file button or dragging and dropping your file into the outlined box:

The only option that differs from the steps to create multiple user accounts at once is the Upload type:

This option tells CourseCloud what to do with the data in your spreadsheet.

• To only create new accounts, use Add new only, skip existing users. This will ignore any entry in your CSV that uses an email address already tied to a CourseCloud account.
• To both create new accounts and update existing accounts, use Add new and update existing users.
• To only update existing accounts, as in this example, use Update existing users only. This will ignore any entry in your CSV that uses an email address new to CourseCloud.

Once the CSV file is selected and you are satisfied with your settings, click the Upload users button:

You will then see a preview of the user accounts that will be updated as well as additional settings. This example uses the Update existing users only option, so any settings that only apply when creating accounts are grayed out:

Here are the available settings for this type of upload:

• Upload type reports the type selected on the previous screen and cannot be edited from here.
• New user password does not apply, as no new users will be created.
• Send temporary passwords by email will almost always be set to Yes, as it is not possible to resend user passwords in bulk. No should only be selected if you have assigned each user a specific temporary password in your CSV and will be contacting each of them individually.
• Existing user details tells CourseCloud how to handle the updates.
  
  • No changes is the default, which avoids accidental updates. If left as-is, existing users’ account details will remain untouched.
  • Override with file should be chosen when you want to replace existing user account details with the information in your CSV, as in this example.
  • Override with file and defaults is seldom used.
  • Fill in missing from file and defaults is seldom used.
• Existing user password does not apply, as passwords will automatically be reset for updated users.
• Allow renames should be set to Yes when you want to update any first or last names.
• Select for bulk user actions allows you to indicate which users should be affected:
  
  • No is the default.
  • New users should be selected when you only want to create new accounts.
  • Updated users should be selected when you only want to update existing accounts, as in this example.
  • All users should be selected when you want all the data in your CSV to be applied to CourseCloud.
• Select courses to enroll into is optional. If you have already added training to CourseCloud, you can assign each of these users a specific course.

Once satisfied with your settings, click the Upload users button:

A Results page will outline the accounts that were updated. If any of the CSV’s entries resulted in an error, that information will appear as well.

Finally, click the Continue button to return to the Upload users page.

If you have further questions, our Support team is here to help via email at support@opensesame.com or via live chat and phone. Feel free to reach us at (503) 808-1268, ext. 2, or at +44 203 744 5541 in Europe.