Email Students

Hi Bert,
I've just started using the app this term, and think it's great. I have imported all my classes as csv files, but although I now have all of the students' and parents' email addresses in my gradebook, they don't appear to be 'live', as in I don't get the option to email students when I tap on their name in the class list. When I look at the student's records individually, none of the information I imported is listed apart from their name. Do I still have to type out emails and contact details into every student record to access this facility, or am I missing something? In one of the instruction pages, there was something about header columns on files for import having an @ symbol, but Excel doesn't allow @ symbols in cells - it interprets that as a function. Is there a way to have email links in classes without typing them all out? And if I can import them, is it now possible to add those fields into an existing class, which now has other info I don't want to lose by deleting and re-importing. Apologies for the long and complex question!
Thanks,
Ian

Hi Ian,
I wasn't aware of that Excel 'feature' with @s!
You have the option to reimport a CSV file into a preexisting class, but it is the 'old way' which we kept for backward compatiblity and I'm not sure if it will work with the e-mail field. Let me try it this evening and I'll reply you back with the right solution.
Thanks

Hi Ian,
I finally found the time to test it.

First of all, and for the next time you need to import a full CSV from Excel, if it does not allow you to add the @ sign, then I suggest you to forget about the @ from the columns header. You Export your data to CSV without its , and then add those @ afterwards directly in the CSV, before importing it into iDoceo.
A CSV is basically a text file, and you should be able to edit that file and add the @ sign in the column headers, that is the first line in the file (you'll be able to actually read it).

Ok, and now to your question. Yes,there is a way to add e-mails after having imported your students already. Here the explanation, hope it is clear enough:

- You need a CSV file with the first column being the exact names of your students (as you imported them before) and the next columns should be the @e-mail and @parentemail (please note those @ signs)

- Now, you have to put that CSV in your Dropbox , inside a folder called Apps/iDoceo

- Open iDoceo, and do a tap&hold over the class you want to import the e-mails to. Select IMPORT

- A new window will open, tap on 'Import File' , a list should appear with the name of your CSV file in it, select it.

And this should be it , if you open your class, you should have the e-mails already in. It might look a bit tricky (this was the old fashioned import) , but I guess it is a lot less work than typing e-mails by hand.

If you get stuck on any of these steps let me know!

This has probably been figured out now, but if you change the cell format to 'Text', you can start a cell with the @ symbol in Excel.

Another option is starting the cell with an apostrophe ('). This tells Excel to treat everything that follows in the cell as plain text. Not sure what happens to the ' when you turn it into csv though. I used the first option and it worked perfectly.

Joel

Hi Joel,
Yup, kind of an old thread... we added the ! (admiration mark) as an alternative to the @ (at sign)