Using the Export Helper when exporting reports

When you export one of Populi's reports to XLS or CSV, you can use the Export Helper to augment the standard set of exported fields with additional information—built-in fields, custom fields, and tags. This article shows you how to use the Export Helper, and more particularly how to use Field Sets to create and quickly access sets of supplemental columns for your exports.

Exporting a report

On most any report in Populi, click Actions (in some places it might say Export instead) and select the Export XLS or Export CSV option. This opens the Export Helper:

If you wish, you can just click Export; that will download the standard XLS or CSV. The standard export includes all the information shown onscreen, plus some additional columns as appropriate (for example, Student ID is included in most exports of reports featuring student names).

Adding fields and creating field sets

Field sets provide you with a shortcut to exporting reports augmented with additional sets of information.

1. Use the Export action mentioned above to open the Export Helper.
2. To add columns to your export, click the Available Fields to add them to Selected Fields. Nearly every report presents you with the same set of Available Fields. Exceptions include SSNs, which you'll see only if your user roles permit it; Organization reports have different fields than person-based reports; and some Admissions reports have additional fields.
   • To remove a Selected Field, click it to return it to the Available side of the dialog.
3. Winnow down the Available list by selecting from the Field Types— Built-in, Custom Fields, and Tags—or by searching for specific fields.
4. When you have the fields you're after, click Export to download the XLS or CSV with the additional columns. Or...
5. ...click Save as Field Set.

6. Give the set a name and check whether you wish to share it with other Staff users who can view this report. (Click Back to modify the Selected Fields or abandon saving this field set.)
7. Finally, click Export to download the report.

Using existing field sets

Here's how to use existing field sets...

1. Use the Export action mentioned above to open the Export Helper.
2. Click the Field Sets tab.
3. Click or click a field set name to load it in the Export Helper.
4. In the Export Helper, you can modify the Selected Fields if desired.
5. Click Actions and select Save to keep your modifications or Save As to create a new field set based on your modifications.

Setting a field set as the default for a saved report

You can set a field set as the default when exporting a report filter you've saved.

1. Load a saved report filter.
2. Use the Export action mentioned above to open the Export Helper.
3. Click the Field Sets tab and load one of the sets into the Export Helper.
4. In the Export Helper, click Actions and select Set as Filter Default.
5. In the future, when you load this report and export it, the default set of selected fields will be pulled from this field set.