We generally recommend that schools enable Single Sign On (SSO) for staff and students. This allows them to log in to Satchel One using the credentials they're accustomed to using at school. Please see this article for more information - Single Sign-on methods
However, if Single Sign On is not enabled, then staff and students can login using separate Satchel One credentials instead. This guide will help you distribute login instructions to those users if they've never logged in before.
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Welcome emails for staff and students
If your staff and students have dedicated Satchel One credentials, then sending auto-generated welcome emails is the easiest and most efficient way to get them logged in for the first time.
The welcome email contains a link which the user can click on to access their account for the first time and enter a password.
Here's how to send welcome emails to staff and students en masse:
Go to Admin > Manage users and then select Students, Teachers or Staff Members at the top.
Tick the checkbox on the top left-hand side to select all users on this page.
Then click the banner link to select all users across the whole school.
Click Actions > Send password link
💡 Top tip: Missing student or teacher emails? Click the Update emails button to fill in the blanks.
📝 Please note: You cannot send welcome emails to parents. This is because parent accounts do not exist until the parent has voluntarily created their account using their child's parent code - see options below.
Login slips / mail merge file for students and parents
For students and parents, you may prefer to print login slips or generate a mail merge file - allowing you to send a custom letter / email home.
⚠️ Please note ⚠️
Generating login information en masse, as described below, will automatically invalidate any existing and unused PINs / Parent Codes. These will be replaced by new ones to ensure that all PINs and Parent Codes have the same expiry date. For this reason, we recommend that only one admin user at a time generates login information en masse.
Step 1
To start the process, click Admin → Login details.
On this screen, you can choose which users you’re going to target. Select an individual year group, registration group, or the whole school. Once you've made your selection, click Continue.
Step 2
You can now choose to generate:
Table of PINs - Generates a PDF showing student PINs or Parent Codes in one place. Ideal for form tutors.
Slips - Generates printable login slips for each student / parent with full instructions for logging in.
Mail Merge File - Generates a spreadsheet which you can use to incorporate individual login information into your own letters to parents.
Users to Include - After selecting an appropriate format for your login information, tick the appropriate boxes to include students, parents/guardians, or both.
Never logged in students - Tick this option if you only want to generate login information for students who have never logged in. To generate login information for the whole school, leave this option unticked.
After selecting the relevant options, click Generate.
💡 Top Tip: Want to find / print login information for an individual student instead? Go to Admin → Manage users → Students, search for the student and click on the PDF icon next to their name.
Distribute Parent Codes individually
Option 1 - Through Manage Users
To find an individual student's Parent Code, click on Admin > Manage Users. Find the relevant student, then click the padlock icon on the right-hand side to view the Parent Code.
Option 2 - Students can share their Parent Code
Alternatively, a student can invite their own parent / guardian to create a Satchel One account. When logged into Satchel One, the student can go to 'Account settings' to view their Parent Code.
Distribute Parent Codes en masse
Option 1 - Print login slips
An admin user can generate printable login slips for each parent with full instructions for logging in. Click here for instructions.
Option 2 - Create a mail merge
An admin user can generate a spreadsheet containing each student and their Parent Code. The spreadsheet can be used as a basis for a mail merge, allowing you to send your own custom letter / email containing the relevant Parent Code to parents.
Alternatively, you can use our parent letter / email. See full instructions below for creating a mail merge using our template.
How to mail merge our parent letter / email
⚠️ Please note ⚠️
Generating new login details in bulk will cause any unused PINs / codes to expire.
To start the process, click Admin → Login details.
On this screen, you can choose which parents you’re going to target. Select an individual year group, registration group, or the whole school. Once you've made your selection, click Continue.
Select Mail Merge File. Under ‘Users to include’, ensure that both Students (All) and Parents/Guardians are ticked.
Click Generate. This will generate an XLS spreadsheet containing the students and any linked parent accounts. Download the spreadsheet.
If you’re going to contact parents by letter, skip to Step 6. However, if you’re going to contact parents by email, proceed as follows:
From your MIS, export a CSV file containing student UPNs and parent email addresses.
Use the VLOOKUP function to transfer the parent email addresses from the CSV into the mail merge file - Parent code (Column K).
Save and close the mail merge file.
Open our template letter/email, download it as a Microsoft Word document and open.
Click on Mailings > Select Recipients > Use an Existing List.
Locate and select the mail merge file you have just downloaded. Click OK. Your letter/email and mail merge file are now linked.In place of the bold text, write today’s date, the name of your school and the name of the person signing off at the end.
One at a time, highlight the remaining pieces of bold text and replace with the relevant merge fields - to do this, click Mailings > Insert Merge Field. The relevant merge fields are:
Student_Forename Student_Surname (add a space in between as shown)
Registration_Group
Parent_Code
10. Make any further edits as required. For example, you may want to include a digital signature.
11. Click on Finish & Merge and then select one of the following options:
Send Email Messages - In the ‘To’ menu, select Parent/Guardian 1 Last Active. Then enter a subject line for your email and click ‘OK’.
Print Document - The letters will be populated with the correct information.