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# How do I create a candidate file?

| Don't get stuck in a spreadsheet doom loop! Ask our team for a Dropbox link and they will sort out any formatting issues you have!

To create a candidate file for importing pupil details into your NMM task, follow these steps:
* Log in to your school's NMM paid subscription account.
* Open the correct task by clicking its name.
* On the **Candidates** page, click the **'Populate, generate, download & print coded sheets'** tab (also called **Step 1**).
* Next, click the **'Candidate Upload'** tab (also called **Step 2**).
* Then, click **'Download Candidates Template'** (also called **Step 3**).
* Once the template is downloaded, delete the sample data and replace it with your own.

![](https://storage.crisp.chat/users/helpdesk/website/2d5d0b5095261a00/screenshot-2024-11-13-at-11263_1afk57v.png)
### **Required Fields**

All of these fields are required and can't be left blank:
* **First_Name:** The pupil's first name. *(e.g., Chris)* 
* **Last_Name:** The pupil's last name. *(e.g., Harding)* 
* **DOB:** The pupil's date of birth. This is used for age-related results. *(e.g., 31/01/2000)*
* **Gender:** M/F. This data is not shown to students but is used for national tasks breakdowns.
* **Year_Group:** The national tasks are specific to a year group. *(e.g., '7' for Year 7)*
* **Group:** The teaching, class, or registration group. Results will be grouped by this field for national tasks.
* **PP:** (UK only) Pupil Premium Status. This is used for generating PP-related results. *(e.g., Y/N*)

### Optional Fields

* **Candidate:** You can use a unique identifier if required to assist with your data matching.

### Using anonymised data

Using anonymised data is an option for certain fields, but it comes with a warning. If you choose to use fake names for the 'First_Name', 'Last_Name' and 'DOB' fields, these names **must be consistent from year to year**. If the names change, it will prevent the system from generating progress reports over multiple years of participation.

### **Important Notices**

* **Do not** change or move any of the column titles and make sure to follow the data formatting precisely.
* The NMM system only accepts candidate files in **.csv** and **.xls** formats.
* You **must** create a separate candidate file for each year-level cohort and upload it to the correct task. Do not upload one spreadsheet with all pupils to a single task.
You can now proceed with **importing your candidate file** to the appropriate NMM task.
Once a national task has been reviewed by our team, you might not be able to delete students. If you've made a mistake, please contact us for assistance.

Next step: [importing your candidate file to the appropriate NMM task](https://help.nomoremarking.com/en/article/how-do-i-import-pupil-details-to-our-nmm-task-t1tyy5/).

|| Once our team have checked a national task you may find you are unable to delete your students. You can ask us for help if you have made a mistake somewhere.