[ARCHIVED] Fix csv user file

[tsmijares]

Hi,

Is there a way of changing or fixing the way the names of users are displayed? The names that were uploaded via csv files did not follow one format.

For example, There were names that were encoded like this "Teresita Mijares" and some like this "Mijares, Teresita, some are encoded with all capital letters, "MIJARES, TERESITA".

Is there a way of fixing this to follow only one display format?

Thank you.

[James]

I would start by checking how they were entered into Canvas rather than how they were exported in the CSV. That is the likely culprit.

If you are using a SIS import, there should be a more standardized way and this is not impossible, but definitely less likely. If you're creating the students manually, then things could certainly look this way. If students are signing themselves up, then it most certainly could look this way because you would have different people doing the data entry.

[tsmijares]

Hi,

Everything you said was right, there are several people who enter student names. 

But if we will control all these and standardize everything, is there a way to change or fix all those uploaded already?

[James]

This can be changed if you are using the hosted version of Canvas or you are self-hosting.  It might be fixable if you are using the Free for Teachers account -- I don't have experience there, but I've seen some posts that teacher's have trouble changing some of the user information (it might have been the emails).

How to do it depends on how they were entered in the first place.

If you're using SIS imports, then each person has an unique identifier and you can resend that information with the names formatted in the proper format. There is a first name and last name and Canvas will automatically combine those together for you. Here is the documentation on what the SIS Import format needs to look like.

Admins can also change it through the web interface by going to each student and editing their information. First and last name are not separated here, but you can set full name, display name, and sortable name. The "Mijares, Teresita" would be the sortable name. That is the most useful because it contains the comma to split the fields if you need to.

[tsmijares · Accepted solution]

Thank you very much for all your help, I will try them.

I appreciate your prompt response.

Thank you again.