One of my qualms with PowerSchool is that it defaults to tab-delimited files with ".text" extensions for exports. Natively, no programs are associated with ".text" files in Windows so users struggle to open them. Also, most of the places that would require a manual import of data would want a .csv file anyway. For our end users, .csv files just make more sense.
Fortunately, changing the default can be accomplished by making a small customization to the export pages. I've attached my "exportteachers.html" and "exportstudents.html" files in case you'd like to do the same. These work with version 10.2.1.2 (and probably many other versions as well):
exportteachers.html
exportstudents.html
Note: When exporting student addresses, commas will split the address into two cells. This happens if you have students with apartments. We are a rural district so we have only a handful of students who live in apartments so it's quick to fix by hand.
End result:
Hi Joe - I have had some interest in your blog since i found your LDAP post. I was readin down here and really like the concept of this CSV customization on quick export.
ReplyDeleteI wanted to share an alternative to this custom solution. If a user changes the default application on their machine to excel.exe for all .text files it opens in Excel natively and there are never any issues with commas, which i think might come up in address and LastFirst field as well as many others.
I love to customize - but sometimes finding a way to get the same outcome without another custom page to keep reconciling after each update, can be easier.
Just a thought.
I am the PS Admin for a small school district in Baltimore, MD
Yes, that was what we were originally doing. However, although we sent instructions and explained it in detail we had a lot of user questions about it. It tended to generate a ticket any time someone ran an export for the first time, got a new computer, even some who needed CSVs and didn't think to save as a CSV after the fact. Basically, stuff that you and I wouldn't think twice about working through would stop many of our administrative assistants in their tracks.
DeleteI could probably add the .text association to my File Associations GPO to combat most of those issues, but given how few students we have in apartments, I haven't had any complaints that would prompt me to look at it again.