Merge User Accounts via the Data Loader

In this topic, we focus on merging user accounts in bulk.  For information about merging user accounts in the User Manager, please see Merge User Accounts with User ID Migration.

You can consolidate user accounts for multiple users at once, using the Merge User IDs Data Loader. 

Example use cases:

  • If the Multiple Assignments feature is enabled, there may be records in two assignment accounts for the same user that need to be consolidated into a single user account. 
  • If a registered learner leaves an organization, changes their name (through marriage, for example) and re-registers with a different user ID, their records can be migrated from the old account to the new one.

Unlike the User ID Migration page in the LMS, when merging user accounts via the data loader, there are no options to choose which records are migrated to the target account or what happens to the source account. The migration transfers all records (not just ownership records) from the source account to the target account, excluding Preferences and Basic Properties. After migration, the source user account is deleted.

To migrate user accounts, your user role must have unrestricted access to the User Manager and Users features in System Roles (Manage Features > User Manager Features).

Create the Import File

To create the CSV import file:

  1. Go to Manage Center >  Users > User Manager > Merge User IDs Data Loader.
  2. Download the CSV file template. 

Prepare the File for Import

Once you have created the CSV import file, you prepare it for import by entering the necessary values in the fields.  Please see Merge User IDs Data Loader Field Reference for detailed information about the fields.

Note that CSV files are likely to be opened by Microsoft Excel if it is installed on your system. If you encounter any problems with importing a CSV file into the LMS, it could be caused by Microsoft Excel applying extra formatting to the file. Alternatively, you can edit CSV files in a text editor instead of Microsoft Excel. The data should conform to the formatting required by the template as specified in the corresponding CSV Formatting Help.

If the values for text area fields include punctuation, these fields must be enclosed in double quotation marks (" "). Do not include commas or semicolons in other fields as they could be interpreted as a field delimiter (depending on your choice of delimiter at import).

Import User IDs to Merge

To import user IDs to merge

  1. Go to Manage Center > Users > User Manager > Merge User IDs Data Loader.
  2. Click + Import CSV file.
  3. Click Choose File to select the CSV file to upload.
  4. If your CSV file was saved with a specific file encoding the LMS can automatically detect it, otherwise you can select it from the list.
  5. Select the delimiter used to separate fields in your CSV file. This can be a comma or a semicolon.
  6. Click Preview. The contents of the CSV file are shown in the Data Loader page so that you can review the data before importing the file.
  7. Click Upload to import the CSV file. The Summary Report shows how many records in the file were imported successfully and how many failed.
  8. If any records failed to import, you can go back to the Merge User IDs Data Loader page and click the CSV Error Report link for the failed import. The error report downloads to your desktop as a copy of the imported file that includes the error message.

Merge User IDs Data Loader Validation

Use the table below to help you resolve errors when importing user IDs to merge.

Error Cause Corrective Action
Multiple enrollments for the same session Both source and target have been enrolled onto the same module session. Where both source and target users have been enrolled onto a session, ensure that only one enrollment, either source or target, is active at the merge time. The other enrollment should be withdrawn or similar.
User booked into repeated sessions Both source and target have been enrolled onto the same module but different sessions.