Import users from file gives a "The specified username is not valid" error

Maureen.Barrow4

Is this expected behaviour? I'm trying to add users into a course. The users exist in our system, but whenever I try to import them to a specific course (via the Import users from file in a Classlist), I get the "The specified username is not valid" error message. I literally copied and pasted the username from their User Profile. I also tried changing the case of their email address in case that resolves it. But, I'm able to create a new user via the Import File (even though that's not what I want. For example, I'm trying to enroll John Doe in the system. If I format John Doe's username as:john.doe@company.com (the same as is in his user profile), it's rejectedjohn.doe he's enrolled and a 2nd user account is created As a Super Admin, I can use the bulk enrollment tool, but I'm trying to help my Instructors be self-sufficient. 

Maureen.Barrow4

@Aasim Yacub​  I'm the one who asked the question you linked to, and never got it to work with my original question either. I also already looked at the documentation you linked to.

 

• Our organization doesn't use Org Defined ID, therefore when I try formatting the import file as: Org Defined ID (left blank), First Name, Last Name, Email, Section (if the course has sections, otherwise, omit), Role, Change Password (True/False), it doesn't work. I get an error message that "The First Name field is not valid". (Or something similar.)
• Our Import Users From File screen tells us to format the file as: *First Name, *Last Name, *Username, Is Active, Email, *Role, Change Password. When I do this, I get the "The specified username is not valid" error.

 

As stated above, if I edit the user's username to something that doesn't exist in the system, the file import works... My guess is that:

1. The Import Users From File maybe tries to create new users? And
2. The "The specified username is not valid" error occurs because the system already has a user with that username?

 

Are my guesses above correct?

• If no, please provide other suggestions to me.
• If yes, is there a way for non-admin to bulk enroll students in their course?

Thomas.Garrett26

Hi @Maureen Barrow​ , after reading your comments and looking over some of our documentation the issue could be caused by the lack of Org Defined IDs in your system.

 

Looking at the Enroll users from a TXT or CSV file help topic: (https://documentation.brightspace.com/EN/le/classlist/instructor/enroll_users_from_txt_or_csv_file.htm)

In the 'To Create an import File' section it states "If the Org Defined ID does not exist in the Brightspace Learning Environment, the participants are imported as new people in the system." So the system may be seeing an org defined ID that does not exist but a username that is already in use and that is causing the error.

I can't provide a definitive answer but I would recommend reaching out to D2L support to confirm the root cause of the issue and hopefully locate a solution.

 

All the best,

Thomas