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Help› Parent Teacher Scheduler› Importing Data Files

Importing Data Files

Learn how to prepare and import your school data files into PickATime to set up your parent-teacher conference scheduler.

Step 2 of the PTA setup process

ℹ️
Import order matters Always import files in this order. Each file depends on the one before it.
1. Students
→
2. Teachers
→
3. Classes
→
4. Enrollment

The 6 Data Files

The PTA scheduler requires 4 files and supports 2 optional files. All files must be tab-delimited text files (.txt or .tsv).

Required Student file
Lists every student. Parents use this to find and attach their child.
Required Teacher file
Lists every teacher participating in conferences, their email, and room.
Required Class file
Defines each class and links it to a teacher.
Required Enrollment file
Specifies which students are in which classes.
Optional Parent file
Pre-loads parent accounts. Typically only needed for Single Sign-On setups.
Optional Parent-Student relationship file
Links parents to specific students. Required for Single Sign-On.
💡
How to export from your SIS Export each file as a tab-delimited text file. In Excel: File → Save As → Text (Tab delimited) (.txt). In Google Sheets: File → Download → Tab Separated Values (.tsv).

Student File

This file lists all students. Parents use the SecurityValue field to verify they've selected the right child when they first register.

Required columns

Column Description  
StudentID Unique identifier for each student Key
First Student's first name  
Last Student's last name  
SecurityValue What a parent enters to verify their child (e.g. date of birth in dd/mm/yyyy format). Prevents parents from accidentally selecting the wrong student.  

Example

StudentID SecurityValue First Last
4321 04/12/2012 Amanda Jones
4322 08/04/2012 Timothy Smith

Optional column

Column Description  
Action Set to delete to remove a previously imported student. Defaults to update if omitted. Optional
⚠️
Don't recycle Student IDs If a StudentID that was used last year is reassigned to a different student this year, the parent of the original student will see the new student listed as their child. If you need to reuse IDs, remove all stored contacts first — go to Global Setup → Contacts → Remove all contacts.

Teacher File

This file lists all teachers who will be available for conferences. Import this file before importing your class file.

Required columns

Column Description  
TeacherID Unique identifier for each teacher Key
First Teacher's first name  
Last Teacher's last name  
Email Teacher's login email address (must also be unique) Unique
Room Where the teacher will hold conferences. Can be used for room-based reporting.  

Example

TeacherID First Last Email Room
234 Angela Frank a@school.com 106
225 Bobby Smith b@school.com Library

Optional columns

Column Description  
Password Sets an initial password (min. 6 characters). If not set, teachers create their own password on first login. Once a teacher sets their own password, a re-import won't change it — use the admin reset button in Global Setup → Contacts instead. Optional
VirtualRoom Import a pre-existing online meeting link. Not needed if you're using PickATime's built-in Zoom/Google Meet integration — those links are generated automatically. Optional
AccessLevel Set to 3 to give a teacher Resource Administrator access (they can block their own schedule). Default is Appointment Viewer. Optional
GroupName Categorize teachers (e.g. Middle School, Science Dept). Useful for creating different slot durations per group, and for displaying teachers under group headings on the scheduling page. Optional
Action Set to delete to remove a teacher. Defaults to update if omitted. Optional
👥
Setting up team conferences? See the Creating Teams section below for how to configure teachers who conference together.

Class File

This file defines the classes and connects each class to a teacher.

Required columns

Column Description  
ClassID Unique identifier for each class. Must be unique per teacher — see note below. Key
TeacherID Must match a TeacherID from your teacher file  
ClassName Display name shown in the scheduling legend (e.g. Math). Useful when multiple sections share the same subject. Optional
GroupName Categorize teachers for slot scheduling (e.g. Upper School, Lower School) Optional

Example

ClassID TeacherID ClassName
Math-Sec200 234 Math
Math-Sec201 235 Math
⚠️
ClassID must be unique per teacher If two teachers both teach "English 9," you can't use English9 for both. Append the TeacherID to make each unique — e.g. Eng9-869 and Eng9-412. Make sure your enrollment file uses these same IDs.

Optional columns

Column Description  
PTAN Number of appointments a parent can book for this class. Default is 1. Set to 2 for homeroom teachers or advisors if needed. Optional
Max Maximum students that can enroll in the class. Must be larger than actual enrollment. Defaults to unlimited. Optional
Action Set to delete to remove a class. Defaults to update. Optional

Enrollment File

This file connects students to their classes. It must be imported after the student, teacher, and class files.

Required columns

Column Description  
StudentID Must match a StudentID from your student file Key
ClassID Must match a ClassID from your class file  

You can format this file in one of two ways:

Option 1 — One class per row (multiple rows per student)

StudentID ClassID
123 English-SecB
123 Science

Option 2 — Multiple classes per row (one row per student)

StudentID ClassID ClassID
123 English-SecB Science
456 Math Gym

Optional column

Column Description  
Action Set to delete to remove specific enrollment records. Defaults to update. Optional

Parent Files (Optional)

These two files are only required if you're setting up Single Sign-On (SSO). For most schools, parents create their own accounts at first login.

Parent file

Column Description  
ParentID Unique identifier for each parent Key
First Parent's first name  
Last Parent's last name  
Email Parent's login email (must be unique) Unique

Parent-Student relationship file

Column Description
ParentID Must match a ParentID from your parent file
StudentID Must match a StudentID from your student file
💡
To prevent parents from adding or removing students from their own account, go to Global Setup → Business Setup → Miscellaneous and uncheck "Allow parents to attach and detach students."

Creating Teams

Teams let two or more teachers share a single conference slot — useful for co-teachers, special education staff, or advisor pairings. There are three approaches depending on your setup.

Best when: teams won't also conference individually.

Create a new "teacher" entry with a team name like Team Smith-Jones and a made-up TeacherID. Assign all shared students to this team teacher's class. You can use one teacher's email or leave it blank — just make sure the email and TeacherID don't duplicate an existing teacher.

Once imported, grant individual teachers access to the team's schedule via Contacts → Resource Access for each teacher.

⚠️
Make sure the individual teachers (Smith and Jones) are not also available at the same time as the team, or parents could book them independently during the same slots.

Best when: teachers also have individual conferences alongside team conferences.

In the class file, concatenate the two TeacherIDs with a semicolon in the TeacherID column:

TeacherID ClassID
T123;T124 Math101
T123 Biology
T124 English

When a parent books the team, both teachers' corresponding slots are blocked. When a parent books with either teacher individually, the team slot is also blocked.

Best when: you've already imported all four files and want to combine teachers into a team after the fact.

1
Go to Class Editor and click Add Teacher/Team.
2
In the Select Person dialog, search for the first teacher and click Add to Team.
3
Search for the second teacher and click Add to Team. Repeat for any additional members.
4
All team members appear in the top-left. Click OK to create the team.
5
Create or move classes to the team. To add a room number, go to the Appointments page and enter it to the right of the team name.

Import Process

Once all four required files are ready, follow these steps to import them into your PickATime account.

1
Open the Importer
From the main navigation, click Importer.
2
Set Data Type to "School"
This must be selected for all four files.
3
Select your event
Choose the correct event from the Event dropdown.
4
Import the student file first
Set File Type to Students, click Browse to locate your file, then click Import.
5
Repeat for each remaining file
Once the student file imports without errors, repeat steps 3–4 for Teachers, Classes, and Enrollment — in that order. Fix any errors in a file before moving to the next.
✅
Safe to re-import Each row has a unique key. Re-importing the same data won't create duplicates — the system updates existing records or adds new ones. If you're missing data, simply import a file containing just the missing rows.
⚠️
After importing, confirm the number of rows imported matches the number of rows in your file. If there's a mismatch, check for errors.

Error Messages

Click an error to see what it means and how to fix it.

General

Any file Incorrect file type was supplied

Your file must be a tab-delimited text file (.txt or .tsv). Make sure you exported using the correct format — not .xlsx, .csv, or .xls.

Student file errors

Students The file does not have a column labeled "First" or "StudentID"

Column names must match exactly. The student ID column must be labeled StudentID — not Student_ID, Student Lunch Number, or anything else. Check every column header against the required names.

Students The ID field is empty for XX

Check your file — the row for student XX is missing data in a required column (first name, last name, StudentID, or date of birth).

Teacher file errors

Teachers Found contact with teacherID of ABC and a different contact with the email of betsy@noemail.com

This means your import file has TeacherID ABC paired with email betsy@noemail.com, but in the system there are already two separate contacts — one with TeacherID ABC (different email) and one with email betsy@noemail.com (different TeacherID). The system can't determine which one to update.

To fix: In the Admin UI, search for the contact with the flagged email address. If it has a different TeacherID and belongs to an old contact, delete it, then re-import your teacher file.

Teachers The password field should be 6 characters or more for XX

Check the Password column for teacher XX — the value is fewer than 6 characters. Update to a valid password and re-import.

Class file errors

Classes Could not find teacher with teacherID XX

Your class file references a TeacherID that doesn't exist in your teacher file. Check your teacher file and make sure TeacherID XX is present and correctly spelled.

Classes Class 'Math' already exists with a different teacher than '123'

Your class file has the same ClassID assigned to two different teachers. ClassIDs must be unique per teacher.

To fix: Rename the duplicate ClassID (e.g. append a section number or teacher ID). Update your enrollment file to match. Then go to Class Editor and remove the incorrectly imported class before re-importing.

Enrollment file errors

Enrollment Student ID not found

The enrollment file contains a StudentID that doesn't exist in the student file. Make sure the student file was imported first, and that the ID in question (e.g. 12345) is present in it.

Enrollment Class XX not found

Your enrollment file references a ClassID that wasn't imported in the class file. Check your class file for the missing ClassID. Note: if the class is something like a Study Hall where no conferencing takes place, you can safely ignore this error.

Enrollment No class ID found for student XX

A row in the enrollment file has a StudentID but no ClassID. Check for accidental blank columns in that row.

Enrollment Class XX has reached maximum enrollment. Student XX has been skipped.

You've set a maximum enrollment cap for this class and are importing more students than it allows. Go to Class Editor, click the teacher, then the class, and check the Maximum column value.

Parent file errors

Parents The file does not have a column labeled "First" or "First Name"

Column headers must match exactly. Check that your parent file uses First (not FirstName or first_name).

Parents Could not find Parent with ID 'XX' or Student with ID 'YY'

The parent-student relationship file references a ParentID or StudentID that wasn't imported. Make sure both the parent file and student file were successfully imported before importing the relationship file.

Fixing Bad Data

Student file fixes

Student names were reversed

Correct the file and re-import. The system will update the existing records.

Student IDs were incorrect

Add an Action column to your incorrect file, fill it with delete, and re-import. Then re-import the corrected file.

SecurityValue field was missing

Add the SecurityValue column to your file and re-import.

Some students were missing

Import your student file again with the newly added students, then import your enrollment file to add their class data.

Teacher file fixes

ℹ️
How you fix teacher data depends on whether you've already imported your class file. Once the class file is imported, teachers are placed on the Appointments page and can't be updated by re-importing the teacher file alone.

Before importing your class file

Teacher names or IDs are incorrect

Add an Action column filled with delete to your incorrect teacher file and re-import. Then re-import the corrected file.

After importing your class file

Some teachers shouldn't be in the event

Go to Class Editor and remove teachers who aren't participating in conferences.

Teachers are assigned to the wrong classes

Go to Class Editor, remove all classes, then re-import your class file.

Class file fixes

Wrong classes were imported, or too many classes

Go to Class Editor and delete the incorrect classes individually (click the red ✕ next to the class name), or use Imports → Class file → Remove existing Classes to clear all classes at once.

One class is assigned to the wrong teacher

The simplest fix is to move the class in Class Editor. If you just re-import a corrected class file, the correct assignment will be added — but the incorrect one won't be removed automatically.

Enrollment file fixes

Wrong or outdated enrollment was imported

Delete all classes via Class Editor, then re-import your class file and a corrected enrollment file.

Some enrollment data was missing

Simply re-import your enrollment file with the missing rows included. Existing enrollment and parent appointments won't be affected.

Removing Data

Remove everything and start over

1
On the Events List page, create a new event using your existing event as a template (this copies your settings). Then delete the old event — this removes all class and enrollment data.
2
Remove all contacts: Global Setup → Contacts → Show advanced options → Remove all customers → Select "Event Administrator". This removes all parents and teachers.
3
Remove students: click Remove students not enrolled in a class. This may take a few minutes. You'll have a clean event ready to start over.

Remove only class and enrollment data (keep slots and teachers)

Go to Class Editor and delete all classes. Your teacher roster and time slots on the Appointments page will be preserved. Then re-import your class and enrollment files.

Remove student, teacher, class, and enrollment data (keep parents)

1
Create a new event using your last event as a template, then delete the old event.
2
Add an Action column with DELETE to your student and teacher files and re-import both. Parent accounts will remain untouched.

Frequently Asked Questions

We accidentally imported last semester's data but already have parent appointments. Can we import new files without losing those appointments?

Yes — you can import new files and they'll add to the existing data rather than replace it. New classes will be added, but previously imported classes won't be deleted automatically. To remove old classes, use the Action column set to delete or remove them in Class Editor.

Importing new data will never remove existing parent appointments.

We re-imported our class and enrollment files but don't see the changes in Class Editor.

A new import adds or updates data — it doesn't delete. To remove classes, you need to either delete them from Class Editor or include them in an import with the Action column set to delete.

We were missing some class and enrollment data. Can we import a new file without disrupting existing bookings?

Yes. Re-importing will only add the new data. Existing parent appointments won't be touched.

How do I verify my data was imported correctly?

Go to Class Editor. Select a teacher on the left to see their classes, then click a class to see enrolled students. To view all classes together, check Show only Classes on the right side.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

  • Don't export a full year when you only need a semester. Import only the data relevant to this conference event.
  • Leading zeros on numeric IDs get stripped by Excel. If your IDs have leading zeros (e.g. 00123), format the column as Text before saving — otherwise Excel will silently remove the zeros.
  • Column names must match exactly. Email works. Email_Address, Teachers_Email, and email don't. No spaces, no underscores, exact case.
  • Student IDs changed from last year? You'll need to remove last year's student data first. See Removing Data.
  • Using first + last name as StudentID? Check the box "Use First + Last Name as StudentID" in Global Setup → Business Setup → Parent Login. You don't need to create a concatenated field — PickATime handles this automatically. Update your CUI Messages prompt so parents know to enter their child's full name.
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