History Import Plugin — User Guide

The History Import plugin lets you import completion history and certificates from external learning platforms (e.g. old LMS or spreadsheets) into Totara. You upload CSV or Excel files, and the plugin stores the records so you can view, filter, and export them from a dashboard. This guide explains how to use it as an end user.

Who can use it?

Role	What they can do
Managers / Course creators / Editing teachers	View the History Dashboard: see statistics, filter records, and browse the table of imported completion data. No upload or delete.
Managers	Import files (Upload), Delete import batches and their records, and Manage plugin settings.
Managers / Course creators	Export filtered records to CSV or Excel.

If the plugin is disabled in settings, the History Import menu will not appear. Only users with the right permissions see Dashboard, Upload, or Settings in the navigation.

How do I open History Import?

Use your site’s main navigation. Look for History Import. Under it you will see:

History Dashboard — Main page to view and filter imported records. Address: Your site URL + /local/history_import/index.php
Upload Files — Page to upload and import CSV/Excel (if you have import permission). Address: Your site URL + /local/history_import/upload.php
Settings — Plugin settings (if you have manage permission). Opens Site administration → History Import.

Dashboard — Viewing imported records

On the History Dashboard you see:

Statistics cards — Total records, Completed courses, Unique users, Recent imports.
Filter section — Search (by name, email, course, or employee code), Completion status, Department, Division, Completed from date, Completed to date, and optionally Batch. Click Apply Filters to update the list; use Reset Filters to clear them.
Results table — Columns typically include: Employee code, Employee name, Email, Course name, Course type, Status, Progress (%), Completed on, Department, Time spent. Rows are paginated (e.g. 25 per page; your administrator can change this in settings).
Upload button — If you have import permission, use it to go to the Upload page.
Export to CSV — If you have export permission and there are records, this exports the currently filtered list to a CSV file.

Use the filters to find specific employees, courses, departments, or date ranges. The dashboard only shows data that has already been imported; it does not change your live Totara course completions unless your site has other processes that use this data.

Upload — Importing files

If you have import permission:

Open Upload Files from the History Import menu (or go to /local/history_import/upload.php).
Choose File Type: Completion Records (CSV) or Certificates (XLSX) depending on what your file contains.
Select the file: drag and drop it into the upload area or click to choose a file. Supported formats: CSV and XLSX. Maximum size is set in plugin settings (e.g. 50 MB or 200 MB).
Click Upload and Import. The page will show progress (e.g. uploading, then processing records). When the import finishes, you see a summary: total records, successfully imported, skipped, and errors (if any).
Imported data appears on the Dashboard. Each import is stored as a batch so you can later filter by batch or delete a batch if needed.

Your file must have the columns expected by the plugin (e.g. employee code, name, email, course name, status, completion date). If required columns are missing or the format is wrong, the import may fail or skip rows; the result message will indicate this. Check the plugin or administrator documentation for the exact CSV/Excel format required.

Import history (batches)

On the Upload page you see a list of Recent Imports (batches). For each batch you typically see: Batch ID, Filename, number of Records, Status (e.g. Pending, Processing, Completed, Failed), Imported by, Date. If you have delete permission, you can Delete a batch; this removes that batch and all records that were imported in it. Use View Records (or filter by batch on the Dashboard) to see the records from that import. Deleting a batch cannot be undone.

Export

If you have export permission:

On the Dashboard, set the filters you want (search, status, department, division, date range, batch).
Click Export to CSV (or the export link). The plugin generates a file containing all records that match the current filters and sends it for download. You can also open the Export page directly with the same filter parameters in the URL to export the same set of data (e.g. to Excel if that option is available).

Export is useful for reporting, backups, or feeding the data into other tools.

Settings (managers)

Managers can open Site administration → Plugins → Local plugins → History Import (or the History Import → Settings link) to configure:

Enable Plugin — Turn the History Import plugin on or off. When off, the menu and pages are not available.
Auto-match Users — When enabled, the plugin can match imported records to existing Totara users by email (if your import process uses this feature).
Records Per Page — How many rows to show per page on the Dashboard (e.g. 10, 25, 50, 100, 250).
Maximum File Size — Maximum upload size in MB (e.g. 10, 25, 50, 100, 200).

Save changes to apply them.

User journey (overview)

flowchart LR A[Open History Import] --> B[Dashboard or Upload] B --> C{Action} C -->|View| D[Filter and browse records] C -->|Import| E[Select file type and file] C -->|Export| F[Apply filters and export CSV] E --> G[Upload and process] G --> H[See import summary] D --> F

Tip: Before uploading a large file, confirm the required column names and date formats with your administrator or the plugin documentation. Use filters on the Dashboard to check a specific batch or date range after import.