Importing Tab/Comma Delimited Files (CSV)

The CSV file can have a maximum of 34 columns. If all columns are used, they should follow this order:

Type, Title/ID, Points, Question Wording, Correct Answer, Choice 1, Choice 2, Choice 3, Choice 4, Choice 5, Choice 6, Choice 7, Choice 8, Choice 9, Choice 10, General Feedback, Correct Feedback, Incorrect Feedback, Feedback 1, Feedback 2, Feedback 3, Feedback 4, Feedback 5, Feedback 6, Feedback 7, Feedback 8, Feedback 9, Feedback 10, Topic, Difficulty Level, Meta 1, Meta 2, Meta 3, Meta 4.

The first column, “Type” should use the two-letter abbreviation shown below:

MC = Multiple Choice

TF = True/False

MR = Multiple Response/Answer

FB = Fill in the Blank/Short Answer

ES = Essay/Paragraph

The following columns must always be present in the .csv file:

Type, Title/ID, Points, and Question Wording, although the Points and Title/ID columns can be empty.

If the Type is “ES” (essay), no further columns are required.

If the Type is “MC” (multiple choice), “MR” (Multiple Response/Answer), “FB” (Fill in the Blank/Short Answer), or “TF” (True/False) there must also be a Correct Answer column (although for FB questions, this column is not used and can be blank).

For MC, MR, and FB questions, “Choice 1” column must also be present.

If the “Points” column is not empty, the value can range from 0-100 and will be rounded to two decimal places. If no value is provided, Respondus will assign the point value of 1.00.

The formatting requirements for the “Correct Answer” column depend on the question type:

MC - Supports numbers 1-10 or letters A-J (ignoring the case)

TF - Supports numbers (1,2) and letters (A,B), where 1/A= true, 2/B= false. The words “true” and “false” are also supported. Capitalization is ignored for all answer types.

MR - Supports a list of numbers/letters within the range of 1-10 or A-J. The numbers/letters must be separated by a comma or space; all must be contained within quotes. (e.g. "a,c,h,j" or “a c h j”). A trailing separator (e.g. "1,4,") is acceptable.

ES - (This column isn’t used; use the Choice 1 column instead)

FB - (This column isn’t used, use the Choice # columns instead)

The following notes will be helpful in the development of your CSV file:

• At the current time, the Topic, Difficulty, and Meta fields are being ignored and discarded. We are specifying these fields now so that they will be compatible with a future version of Respondus that will support them.

• Blank lines between records are ignored.

• Embedded line breaks within quotes are supported.

• Literal column separators (within quotes) are supported. - Literal quotes (2 quote characters in sequence) are supported.

The following notes are specific to the feedback fields:

• all feedback columns are optional

• general feedback is not supported in some LMSs, nor for essay/paragraph questions

• correct answer feedback is not supported in some LMSs, nor for essay/paragraph questions

• incorrect answer feedback is not supported in some LMSs, nor for essay/paragraph questions

• choice-specific feedback is not supported in some LMSs, or for question types other than Multiple Choice; it is also not supported for fill-in-the-blank or essay/paragraph questions

• choice-specific feedback for more than 2 answer choices is not supported for TF questions

• choice-specific feedback is not supported for answer choices which do not exist

To import the tab/comma delimited file with Respondus, select the “Import Questions” task from the Start menu in Respondus. Change the “Type of File” to “Tab/Comma Delimited (CSV)” and then browse to the file. A window will open and ask you to describe the type of data being imported (plain text or HTML, the number of header rows to skip, the type of delimiter, etc.). The Preview allows you to look at the data before the import is complete. If everything looks good, click OK to close the window.

If the CSV file contains HTML, it is possible to include image links such as

(Notice that any single quote in the HTML must be changed to a pair of quotes in the HTML.) If images are referenced in the CSV file using HTML, then select the location of the image folder next.