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The User Directory gives you a central place to view, search, and organize every student at your school. This guide covers adding students one at a time, importing them in bulk, editing profiles, and removing students who have left.
Before you begin: You need an existing school with an academic structure configured. See Academic Structure.

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Viewing students

  1. Go to User Directory → Students in the sidebar
  2. You’ll see a table of all students with their details
Student directory table showing student names, emails, grades or departments, and status

Screenshot: Student directory table showing student names, emails, grades/departments, and status

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Searching and filtering

Use the search bar and filters to find specific students:
  • Search by name or email
  • Filter by grade (K-12 (primary and secondary school)) or faculty/department (university)

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Adding a student individually

1

Click 'Add Student'

Click the Add Student button at the top of the student directory. The add student dialog opens.
2

Enter student details

Fill in the required information:
Additionally, select:
  • Grade — The student’s class level
  • Arm — The student’s arm (class section)
Add student dialog with fields for name, email, grade, arm, and academic details

Screenshot: Add student dialog with fields for name, email, and academic details

3

Save

Click Save. A confirmation message appears and the student is added to your directory. They’ll receive an email invitation to set up their account (if they don’t already have one).

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Bulk import via Excel

For adding many students at once, use the Excel import feature.
1

Click 'Import Students'

Click the Import button in the student directory. The import dialog opens.
2

Prepare your Excel file

Create an Excel spreadsheet (.xlsx) with the required columns, or download our ready-made template. The first row must contain the column headers, and each subsequent row represents one student. The exact columns depend on your school type:
📥 Download K-12 student import templateExample spreadsheet:
  • Column headers must match exactly as shown above (e.g., First Name, not Firstname or first_name)
  • The file must be in .xlsx format (Excel workbook)
  • Sections, grades, arms, faculties, and departments must already exist in your school’s academic structure
  • Email addresses (if provided) must be valid and unique — no duplicates
3

Upload the file

Select your .xlsx file and upload it. Lena reads the spreadsheet and validates each row.
4

Review the import preview

Lena validates the data and shows a preview:
  • Valid rows — Students that will be imported successfully
  • Errors — Rows with problems (invalid email, missing field, duplicate, etc.)
Excel import preview showing valid rows highlighted in green and error rows with details

Screenshot: Import preview showing valid rows and error details

5

Confirm import

Review the preview, fix any errors in your spreadsheet if needed, and confirm the import. A confirmation message appears and the imported students are added to your directory.

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How imported accounts work

When you import students via Excel, Lena automatically creates accounts for them. Here’s what happens:

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Usernames

Lena generates a username for each student using the first available option from this priority list:
  1. Email prefix — The part before @ in their email (e.g., ada.okafor@school.edu becomes ada.okafor)
  2. Student ID / Matric number — The identifier from the spreadsheet (e.g., ADM/2024/001 or CSC/2023/001)
  3. firstname.lastname — Their name in lowercase (e.g., ada.okafor)
  4. firstname.lastname.xxxx — If the above is already taken, a random 4-character suffix is added (e.g., ada.okafor.k7m2)

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Default passwords

The default password for each imported student is their last name in lowercase. For example, a student named “Ada Okafor” would have the password okafor.

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Distributing login credentials

After a successful import, Lena returns a list of credentials (username and password) for all newly created accounts. No email notification is sent automatically — you’ll need to distribute these credentials to your students yourself (e.g., printed handouts, secure messaging).
Encourage students to change their default password after their first login via the profile settings. Students with email addresses can also use the Forgot Password flow to set their own password.
Students imported without an email address can only reset their password while logged in. They cannot use the Forgot Password flow since it requires an email. Make sure to communicate their credentials securely.

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Editing a student

To update a student’s information:
  1. Find the student in the directory
  2. Click the Edit button on their row
  3. Update the relevant fields (name, email, grade, department, etc.)
  4. Save changes

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Removing a student

To remove a student from your school:
  1. Find the student in the directory
  2. Click the Delete or Remove button
  3. Confirm the removal
Removing a student deletes their school profile and disconnects them from all courses at your school. Their Lena account still exists — they just won’t be associated with your school anymore.

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Troubleshooting

  • Check that column headers match exactly as documented (e.g., First Name not Firstname or first_name) - Make sure the file is a .xlsx file (not .csv or .xls) - Verify that all sections, grades, arms, faculties, and departments in the spreadsheet exist in your school’s academic structure - Remove any empty rows at the end of the spreadsheet - Make sure data is on the first (active) sheet of the workbook
Review the error report — common issues include: - Invalid email format — Check for typos in email addresses - Duplicate email or ID — The student may already exist in your school - Grade/arm not found — The specified grade or arm doesn’t exist in your school structure (create it first in Academic Structure) - Faculty/department not found — The specified faculty or department doesn’t exist (create it first)