Preview the Apple export
Before you upload anything to Apple School Manager, the preview lets you look at exactly what the export contains. In the sidebar it's Apple sync → Preview CSVs (the page is called Apple preview CSVs; you need permission to view sync status). It shows each CSV the last export produced — students.csv, staff.csv, classes.csv, courses.csv, rosters.csv and locations.csv — as a table you can expand and read. Nothing here uploads or changes anything; it's a read-only check of the files the last export generated, whether you built it on Apple operations or the daily scheduled sync built it at about 02:00.
What you see
- A search box across the top (Search every file — name, email, username or id), and a count such as 1,234 rows across 6 files.
- One expandable panel per export file, labelled with the file's name and its row count.
- Expand a panel to see that file's columns and rows as a table, 100 rows a page, with a pager that walks the whole file.
- A Download .zip button (top right) for the whole set — the same zip as on Apple operations; downloading needs permission to export data.
What each file holds:
| File | One row for | Main columns |
|---|---|---|
students.csv |
each current student | person_id, person_number, first_name, last_name, grade_level (their year), email_address, sis_username, location_id |
staff.csv |
each current member of staff or admin | person_id, person_number, first_name, last_name, email_address, sis_username, location_id |
courses.csv |
each exported class (its name) | course_id, course_name, location_id |
classes.csv |
each exported class | class_id, course_id, up to three instructor_id columns, location_id |
rosters.csv |
each student in each class | roster_id, class_id, student_id |
locations.csv |
the school's location | location_id, location_name |
Finding one person
The search box searches every file at once, which is usually what you want: a pupil appears in students.csv and again in rosters.csv for each class they're in, and a teacher appears in staff.csv and on their classes. Type a name, an email address, a username or an id, and each panel tells you how many of its rows matched — panels with a match open automatically, and a file with none says so rather than disappearing, because "this file doesn't mention them" is itself an answer.
Each panel pages independently, so you can be deep into rosters.csv while students.csv stays on page 1.
If a search finds nothing anywhere, that person is not in this export. Bear in mind the preview shows the files from the last export that ran — if someone has joined or changed since, generate a fresh export on Apple operations and look again.
Using it
Preview is the safe way to sanity-check a roster before it reaches Apple: confirm the right people and classes are present, and the columns look sensible, then head to Apple operations to upload.
If the page says Nothing to preview (No export files were found for this school. Generate an export on Apple operations, then come back.), the export has not been run yet, or it produced nothing. Run it from Apple operations and check the school's Apple School Manager settings. A file with no matching rows says No rows in this file match “…”.
Related
Was this guide helpful?
We read every response — it decides what we rewrite next.
Thanks for your feedback.