Adding and Managing Learners via Bulk CSV in LinkedIn Learning

Article
04/05/2024

What this Document Tells You

This document provides information about managing users in bulk via a CSV file, known as Org Sync. The Org Sync process involves adding or updating your organization's user data in LinkedIn Learning in bulk using a formatted CSV file. This document will help with creating, formatting, and uploading that CSV file in LinkedIn Learning.

In the People Management admin interface, you can use CSV file uploads to add new users, update existing users, assign and revoke licenses, set admin permissions, and manage group memberships.

The following processes outline the steps for admins to add and manage LinkedIn Learning users via bulk CSV Org Sync. Once you have formatted your CSV file to accomplish your needs, this same file can also be delivered to LinkedIn Learning via SFTP or HTTPS on a schedule to automate user management.

Create your CSV File

To download the CSV template and create your CSV file, take the following steps:

After you log in, from the Admin screen, click People in the menu bar at the top of the screen.
Select Add new users > Add users by CSV.
Below No, I need help creating one, click Get started.
Click the Download a CSV template drop down and select one of the template options.
Open the downloaded template file in Microsoft Excel or a text editor application. Add your user data to the file and save as a CSV file type. Additional details on the specific column headers and values can be found below.

Upload your CSV File

To upload your CSV to Learning Management and save your changes, take the following steps:

From the Admin screen, select People > Users.
Click Add new users and select Add users by CSV.
In the Add users by CSV window, click Upload CSV.
Upload from computer, select the learner invitation email type, and click Upload. If you select a custom email template, enter the name of the custom invitation email template you would like to send.

Note

(Optional) You can turn off email notifications to new learners by selecting Me > Authenticate > Customize > Emails to learners and switching the toggle to "Off" (see below screenshot). Currently, you cannot send customized welcome emails via LinkedIn Learning SFTP Org Sync.

Review your Upload

After you upload your CSV file:

LinkedIn Learning will process the file and check for errors. We will also notify you (via email and notification on Learning Management) once your CSV file is processed, or if you need to update any information.
LinkedIn Learning will send an email to the users you've added, with instructions on how to activate their accounts. If a user has been added as an inactive user, a welcome email is not sent.
LinkedIn Learning will send push notifications to users on LinkedIn.
Your newly-added users appear in People in your Admin account. Initially their status is "Invited". After they have registered and activated their account, their status changes to "Activated". If you have uploaded the user as inactive, they appear in the user list as "Unassigned".

Download Error Report

If a CSV upload fails or has errors, you can download a full error report, which includes the rows that have errors and tips to help resolve them. With this information, you can determine the cause of the failure, correct any missing or incorrect items or lines, and complete another CSV upload.

To download the error report, take the following steps:

From the People tab of Learning Management, upload your CSV file.
If your file does not upload correctly, a pop-up window appears. Click CSV File detailing the issues to download a copy of the error report.
After you have downloaded the report, click OK.

Important

If our system detects that you might be creating a duplicate profile of an existing user (ex: jdoe@linkedin.com and jdoe@linkedin.biz), you will receive an error message in the Error Report file stating:

"Duplicate Profile Error: The email address you entered is similar to an existing email, jdoe@linkedin-example.com. This may create a duplicate profile which can result in activation issues. Please confirm that this email address belongs to a different user. If so, retry your upload with a new column labeled reupload_user_profile and set the value to true."

If you wish to move forward with the upload and create a new user, please re-upload your CSV file while adding a column labeled, "reupload_user_profile" and set the user’s value to "True". Then re-upload your CSV file.>

Creating Custom Attributes

You can create custom attributes by using one of the following methods:

Add them via your SSO configuration
Add them via CSV upload
Add up to five (5) custom attributes by downloading a user list as CSV

In the Learner Detail report, you can download custom attributes from time of engagement or most or your recently-created learner custom attributes.

Grant Admin Permissions to Users

As a Learning admin, you can grant admin permissions to new users in bulk. To do so, update the Users and admins template, as explained in the Create your CSV File section.

Note

The Users and admins template option appears only for admins who have permissions to added sub-admins.

To grant general admin permissions across all group types, take the following steps:

Set the [BUDGET GROUP]_license _[LICENSE TYPE]_status header to "Active". This value sends an invite to a new user to activate their Learning license. No changes occur for the users who are already activated.
Enter "yes" in the following columns of the CSV template. If you do not wish to grant these permissions to new users, leave the corresponding fields blank:
- permission_create_other_sub_admins_with_same_permissions: Allow users to grant their permission(s) to other users.
- permission_manage_custom_content: Allow users to create, edit, and delete custom content.
- permission_curate_content: Allow users to manage courses, learning paths, and collections.
- permission_manage_IT_settings: Allow users to configure SSO and other advanced integrations.

To limit admin permissions to specific groups, consider the following example:

If you have three groups on Learning - Group1, Group2, and Group3, and you wish to limit admin permissions for users to Group1, type "group:Group1" in the following columns of the CSV template. Please note that only these four permissions can be limited to specific groups:
- group_permission_edit_groups: Allow users to edit, add and remove users, rename, and delete groups.
- group_permission_manage_users_licenses: Allow users to invite new users, and assign and revoke licenses.
- group_permission_recommend_content: Allow users the ability to recommend content, learning paths, and collections.
- group_permission_view_reports: Allow users to view and generate reports for the specified group.
To limit permission to more than one group, type in all the group names separated by a space. For example, type "group:Group1 group:Group2" to provide admin permissions to users for two groups.

Note

Each group name should be preceded by "group" (lowercase).
Group names are not case sensitive.
Type the name of the group as is, maintaining spaces where applicable.
You can download a list of your groups to help you fill this sheet by following the steps in the section "Download a Glossary of Group Names".

Manage Admin Permissions via CSV Upload

To grant admin permissions to existing users or to modify permissions for existing admins, take the following steps:

From the Admin screen, select People > Users > Manage Users.
From the Download section of the dropdown, select "Filtered users". This action redirects you to the Customize the fields to include in your CSV download of filtered users page.
Add the Custom attributes, Groups, and Licenses you wish to include in the CSV file.
Select Include admin permissions.
Click Download CSV.
Delete or update the permissions in the downloaded file.
Upload the CSV file by following the steps in the Upload your CSV File section.

Note

Make sure you filter the list to avoid a very large file.

Example Admin Permissions

HEADER	SUB-ADMIN	FULL ADMIN	DESCRIPTION
primary_email_address	subadmin@abc.com	fulladmin@abc.com	User's email address
preferred_first_name	John	Jane	User's first name
preferred_last_name	Doe	Doe	User's last name
work_title	Recruiter	Recruiter	User's work title
BUDGET GROUP_license_LICENSE TYPE_status	Active	Active	Active: This admin will have access to view Learning content Inactive: This admin won't have access to view learning content. For no action leave blank.
permission_create_other_sub_admins_with_same_permissions	yes	yes	Permission to grant their permission(s) to other users. yes: To grant permission; no: To remove permission; For no action leave blank.
permission_manage_custom_content	yes	yes	Permission to create, edit and delete custom content. yes: To grant permission; no: To remove permission; For no action leave blank.
permission_curate_content	yes	yes	Permission to manage content, learning paths and collections. yes: To grant permission; no: To remove permission; For no action leave blank.
permission_manage_it_settings	no	yes	Permission to configure SSO and configure other advanced integrations. yes: To grant permission; no: To remove permission; For no action leave blank.
group_permission_edit_groups	group:sample; groupone; group:sample; grouptwo	yes	Permission to create groups, add and remove users from groups, rename groups, and delete groups. yes: To grant permission; no: To remove permission; For no action leave blank.
group_permission_manage_users_licenses	group:samplegroupone	yes	Permission to recommend content, learning paths and collections. yes: To grant permission; no: To remove permission; For no action leave blank.
group_permission_recommend_content	group:sample groupone	yes	Permission to recommend content, learning paths and collections. yes: To grant permission; no: To remove permission; For no action leave blank.
group_permission_view_reports	group:sample; groupone; group:sample; grouptwo	yes	Permission to view and generate reports for specific groups. yes: To grant permission; no: To remove permission; For no action leave blank.

Note

If you type "yes" across all permissions, as in the Jane Doe example above, Jane becomes a full admin.

Important Headers and Fields in a CSV Upload

If you are not using the CSV template and creating your own file, make sure you use the following headers:

CSV HEADER	HEADER DESCRIPTION
preferred_first_name	User's first name
preferred_last_name	User's last name
primary_email_address	User's primary email address
BUDGET GROUP_license_LICENSE TYPE_status	Headers for licenses and add-ons will vary by product. Refer to the section Identify License Headers for your CSV File (below).
group:[GROUP NAME]	To add or remove users from groups, refer to the section Add Users to a Group on your CSV File (below).
unique_user_id	A custom identifier for each user shown as the Employee ID on the user's enterprise profile in the Account Center.

When adding or revoking users' licenses, make sure you use the following values:

Active: This value sends an invite to a new user to activate their license. No changes are made for users already activated.
Inactive: This value completely revokes the user's license, including any users who are invited or activated.

When assigning a unique ID to users, please keep in mind the following conditions:

You can use a combination of letters and/or numbers for the unique ID.
You can assign and revoke licenses using the unique ID in your CSV file instead of a user's email.
The unique ID appears as the Employee ID on the user's enterprise profile in Account Center.

Note

There is no record limit on a CSV upload.

Identify License Headers for your CSV File

If you are not using the default CSV template and creating your own file, follow these steps to identify all headers you want to use for your CSV upload.

From the Admin screen, select People > Users > Manage Users.
From the drop down select "All users" or "Filtered users".
Select the fields that you want to appear in the headers of your CSV file. For example, if you click "Select all" for the Licenses field, your CSV displays all the headers for the selected licenses.
Click Download CSV to download a copy of the user list. You can use this CSV file to make user changes and re-upload it, or you can copy the headers you want for your own CSV template.

Caution

Headers are case sensitive and must be lowercase to avoid errors when uploading a CSV file.

Add Users to a Group in your CSV File

You can specify in your CSV file if a user should be added to or removed from a group. In your CSV, the group name must be preceded by group: in the header. For each user, enter "yes" to add the user to the group, or enter "no" to remove the user from the group.

Download a Glossary of Group Names

To download a list of your group names, take the following steps:

From the Admin screen, select People > Users > Manage Users.
From the drop down select "All users" or "Filtered users".
Select the fields that you want to appear in the headers of your CSV file. For example, if you click "Select all" in the Licenses field, your CSV displays all the headers for the selected licenses.
From the downloaded CSV, copy the first row from the file.
Open a new spreadsheet file, select the first cell A1, and right click to select Paste Special…
In the Paste Special pop up, select Transpose box and click OK.
Remove the first three rows to create a list of your group names.