Import accounts into Apple School Manager using SFTP
You can use Setup Assistant and the Secure File Transfer Protocol (SFTP) to upload all the .csv files to Apple School Manager. You may want to do this for the following reasons:
Your Student Information System (SIS) isn’t currently supported by Apple School Manager but may be supported in the future.
You don’t have a SIS but want to import the exact same information from the system you currently use.
When you set up SFTP in Setup Assistant, Apple School Manager gives you .csv template files and the access information for a private SFTP server. You can open the files in a spreadsheet app (such as Numbers).
Before you upload your templates, you may want to decide how to create your Managed Apple IDs. See Create Managed Apple IDs in Apple School Manager.
Note: SFTP upload requires a third-party app on macOS. If you don’t have an SFTP client installed, you can find one in the Mac App Store.
Creating an SFTP connection to upload your data need only be done after and requires a role with the “Configure institution” privilege. Depending on your SFTP app, future uploads can take place automatically after the zipped file is placed in a folder.
You can then assign roles to your staff, instructors, and students. Any time you upload new files, that information is automatically added to and updated in Apple School Manager. At no time is data written back to your SIS or other systems.
After you’ve made the initial connection, Apple School Manager expects updates to include every .csv file, even if nothing has changed with a particular file. For example, if you have new students to add but no new staff, classes, or rosters, you must still upload those files.
Important: Before you export your data, read Template information for importing records into Apple School Manager, Best practices for merging data into Apple School Manager, and Students template for Apple School Manager to understand how to properly configure your .csv files with the appropriate information.
Add users with an SFTP app to Apple School Manager
If this is your first sign-in to Apple School Manager
, Setup Assistant appears. If Setup Assistant doesn’t appear, click your name in the upper-right corner, then choose Setup Assistant.Click Add
next to Find Students, Staff, and Classes, then select Set Up SFTP.Apple School Manager will generate a URL, user name, and password to use when uploading files. Use this information to configure your SFTP app.
Click Download Templates to download the template files to your computer, then read the instructions for using templates in the Filling Out Data Files section, which explains in detail the formatting requirements and expected contents of each file.
Open the templates, add your data in the columns, then save the files with a .csv extension.
When your files are filled out, create a zip archive of all six files (in Finder select the files, then go to the File menu and choose Compress 6 Items).
Open your SFTP app and create a new SFTP connection. This process will differ with each app.
Enter the URL, user name, and password generated by Apple School Manager.
After the connection is made, locate and open the dropbox folder, then drag in your zipped file.
In Apple School Manager, click Continue and wait for the file to upload.
If your upload contains errors, you can review a log identifying the files and lines that contain errors. Correct any errors in the data files, then upload a new zipped file. You don’t need to remove the previous file from the Apple SFTP server.
After you successfully upload your file, you’ll see what was imported—for example, the number and type of users, the number of classes, and locations. You can also adjust the window to display additional users.
To review any of the information, click Review SFTP Data.