Batch User Data Import and Update

Batch User Data Import and Update
Prev	Chapter 6. Advanced User Management	Next

The user data batch import and update feature allows the administrator to import users, user information and optionally update existing users details by reading data from a simple text file. It enables administrators to update the following user data:

Credit balance
Restriction status
Full name
Email address
Department
Office
Primary Card/ID Number
Card/ID PIN
Notes
Secondary Card/ID Number
Other email addresses
Username alias

Examples of where the batch user details import feature is useful include:

To set the user email addresses that are stored in another system (like a student management system).
When importing user and balance data from another external or legacy system.
When moving user balances from previous PaperCut editions to PaperCut NG.

For more information on using the batch import to import data from previous PaperCut editions, please see Appendix G, Upgrading from PaperCut Quota.

Tip

PaperCut NG is designed to import user information from the underlying system or network domain. The batch user data import feature is not designed to replace this but rather complement it by allowing importing of user data from other systems our sources. For information about managing a set of users in addition to those in a user directory see the section called “Internal Users (users managed by PaperCut NG)”.

To perform a batch import:

Manually inspect your file in a text editor and ensure it's in the prescribed tab-delimited format as detailed at the section called “Batch User Import File Format”.
Navigate to the Users section.
Click the Batch import ... action (on the left).
Click Browse to select the file to import. (The format of the file is described in the section called “Batch User Import File Format”).
Choose whether you want the import to create new users if they do not already exist. If you clear this checkbox, lines that contain users that do not exist will be ignored and only existing users will be updated.
Press the Import button.
Upon completion you will be told how many users were updated and how many users were created.

Caution

Batch imports are a major operation modifying data en masse. Best practise suggests:

Always run a backup before proceeding with the import.
First experiment/test the import process with a small batch of users before moving onto the full batch.

Batch User Import File Format

The import file is in tab delimited format and contains the following fields in the given order.

No.	Field	Description	Optional?	Limitations
1.	Username	The user's username	Mandatory	Max. 50 characters
2.	Credit Balance	The user's credit balance	Optional - balance not set if blank	A number with no currency symbol or separators, using a full stop for the decimal separator. Correct: `1.23` Incorrect: `$1.23` or `1,23` or `1,023.00`
3.	Restricted Status	The user's restricted status. (Y/N)	Optional - restricted status not set if blank
4.	Full Name	The user's full name	Optional - full name not set if blank	Max. 255 characters
5.	Email	The user's email address	Optional - email not set if blank	Max. 255 characters
6.	Department	The user's department or faculty	Optional - department not set if blank	Max. 200 characters
7.	Office	The user's office or location	Optional - office not set if blank	Max. 200 characters
8.	Card/ID Number	The user's primary identity/card number	Optional - card/id number not set if blank	Max. 100 characters, case insensitive
9.	Card/ID PIN	The user's card PIN number	Optional - card/id PIN not set if blank. If the field is '-' then the PIN is set to zero.	Max. 20 digits
10.	Notes	Notes about the user.	Optional - notes not set if blank	Max. 2000 characters
11.	Secondary Card/ID Number	The user's secondary identity/card number	Optional - secondary card/id number not set if blank	Max. 100 characters, case insensitive
12.	Other email addresses	The user's other email addresses	Optional - other email addresses not set if blank	Email addresses must be separated by commas
13.	Username alias	The user's alias. Only useful if username aliasing is enabled	Optional - alias not set if blank	Max. 100 characters, case insensitive

Table 6.2. User Import File Format

Other limitations: Although any actual limit to the size of an import file should be large enough for any purpose, we recommend keeping the file size below 10MB.

Tip

A simple way to create a tab delimited file is to create a spreadsheet in Microsoft Excel, and then save it in the Text (Tab delimited) format.

Import File Format Examples

The following lines shows importing all the above fields. (The fields are separated by tabs).

                    matt	20.00	Y	Matt Johnson	[email protected]	Science Dept	Head office	\
                    103251	912254	NoteA
                    john	25.00	N	John Jackson	[email protected]	Administration	Other office	\
                    963254	123254	NoteB

Note: backslash indicates text should appear on the same line.

The following lines shows importing user email addresses only. NOTE: That the tabs still exist for balance, restriction, full name fields, but each entry is blank.

                    matt				[email protected]
                    john				[email protected]

The following lines shows importing the credit balance and full name for the first user and the credit balance and email address for the second user. NOTE: That the tabs characters still exist for blank fields.

                    matt	10.00		Matt Johnson
                    john	15.00			[email protected]