Skip to content
Marking.ai Help Centre

Bulk-importing students via CSV

If you’ve got a class list (or your whole year group) in a spreadsheet already, you can import it into Marking.ai in one go — no need to add students one at a time.

Opening the import dialog

  1. Click Students in the left-hand sidebar.
  2. Click the Import CSV button at the top of the page.
  3. The Import students dialog opens.

Step 1: Upload your CSV

Drop your CSV in or click to pick one from your computer. The dialog shows a short summary of the expected format above the drop area, and a Download template link if you want a blank starter.

A few rules to follow:

  • The first row is the header — column names, not data.
  • One row per student.
  • Save the file as a .csv. Other tabular formats aren’t accepted.

Step 2: Review the mapping

Marking.ai reads your CSV and shows you a Review import screen with:

  • A preview of the rows it parsed
  • How each of your columns is mapped to a Marking.ai field (name, year, classes, email, student ID)
  • Any rows it couldn’t parse cleanly

Click Review mapping if you want to change which CSV column maps to which Marking.ai field. Click Continue when you’re happy.

Step 3: Confirm

The Confirm import step summarises what’s about to happen — how many students will be created, how many existing ones will be updated, and how many will be skipped (for example, if a row is missing a name).

Click Import to run it.

What you’ll get back

When the import finishes, you’ll see a toast confirming the numbers — e.g. “22 new · 3 updated · 1 skipped.” The full list refreshes so you can see the new records.

Does importing overwrite existing students?

Marking.ai matches on student name (and optionally email or student ID) to decide whether each CSV row is a new student or an update to an existing one. Existing students get their fields updated; they’re never deleted by an import.

Need help?

If your CSV isn’t parsing the way you expected, drop us a line at connect@marking.ai and we’ll help.

FAQs

What columns does my CSV need?

At minimum, a name column. Optional columns: year, classes, email, student ID. Use the Download template link in the dialog for a sample.

How do I include multiple classes per student?

In the classes column, separate class names with a semicolon or pipe — e.g. 10B Bio | After-school club.

What if I import the same CSV twice?

Marking.ai matches existing students and updates them rather than creating duplicates. You can safely re-import.