# Importing a transcript Most packages in Transfers begin with a transcript. You drop the PDF in, Mapademics reads it, and within about half a minute you're confirming that we've correctly identified every institution mentioned on it. After that, the package is created and you're taken straight into the work of reviewing it. This page walks the import flow from start to finish — both steps. The first step is short; the second one is where the real work happens and where most of this page is spent. *** ## Step 1 — Upload the PDF From any page in the app, open **Transfer Packages** in the sidebar and click **+ Create Package** at the top right. The dialog opens on the **From Transcript** tab. Drag the transcript PDF into the upload area, or click to browse for it. **PDFs only, up to 3 MB.** When the file is in place, click **Extract & Review** at the bottom. While Mapademics extracts the transcript — usually 15 to 30 seconds — the dialog stays open with a **progress bar** climbing as extraction runs, plus a status message telling you not to close the dialog. The progress bar is the signal that something is actively happening; if it stalls for more than a minute, refresh and try again or [reach out](/reference/support.md). If you've already started extraction and you decide you'd rather build the package by hand instead — for example, the transcript turned out to be incomplete — you can switch over to the **Manual** tab without losing what extraction has already pulled out. The work Mapademics has done so far is preserved and surfaces on the package once it's created. ### If the upload is rejected A few things can trip the upload: * **The file isn't a PDF.** Export or scan the transcript as a PDF and try again. * **The PDF is over 3 MB.** Save a smaller version (in Preview, that's *File → Export → Reduce File Size*) or request a fresh electronic transcript from the registrar. Electronic transcripts from a system like Parchment or Credentials Solutions are usually well under the limit. * **The PDF is empty or corrupted.** Re-download or re-export the transcript and try again. The dialog will tell you exactly what's wrong; the fix is usually a different export of the same transcript. ### External ID Just below the upload area is an optional **External ID** field — *"Optional — reference from your registrar / SIS"*. Use it to tag the package with whatever identifier you track this transfer evaluation under in your own systems (registrar number, SIS case ID, ticket reference, anything). It's free-form, never validated, and stored on the package for later reference. Leave it blank if you don't have an external system to tie back to. You can also set or change it later from the [basic-info popover](/working-with-packages/the-package-page.md#external-id) on the package page. ### Advanced options The **Advanced options** section on the upload step contains one setting: a **Package Name** override. If you leave it blank, Mapademics names the package after the student and the issuing institution, based on what's printed on the transcript (e.g. *"{student name} — {institution}"*). Fill it in if you want a different name — you can also rename the package later from the package page, so it's fine to skip this. *** ## Step 2 — Confirm the institutions Once extraction finishes, the dialog widens and you're now looking at a table titled **Confirm Transcript Institutions**. Mapademics has read the transcript and pulled out every institution mentioned on it — usually the school that issued the transcript, plus any other schools the student transferred credit in from along the way. Before we build the package, we need you to confirm we've matched each of those names to the right institution in our records. This step is doing a lot of work behind the scenes. Every row you confirm here is what we'll use to find the right course catalog for that institution's courses. Get it right and the rest of the package builds itself; get it wrong and you'll be looking at courses matched against the wrong catalog. ### The two kinds of rows Each row is labeled either **Issuer** or **Transfer**. * The **Issuer** is the school whose name is at the top of the transcript — the institution that produced it. There's always exactly one issuer, and it has to be matched correctly before you can continue. * **Transfer** rows are other schools mentioned on the transcript. They show up because the student took classes there and brought that credit in — typically a summer at a community college, a dual-enrollment semester in high school, or a previous degree from somewhere else. A transcript can have zero transfer rows or many. ### Reading the Match Type column For every row, Mapademics has already taken its best shot at matching the name on the transcript to a real institution in our library. The **Match Type** column tells you how that went. * **Exact** (green check) — the name on the transcript matches an institution in our library word-for-word. Almost always right; a quick scan and move on. * **Prefix** (yellow check) — the name on the transcript matches the start of an institution we know. This happens when the transcript uses an abbreviated or partial form of the official name. Glance at the **Matched Institution** column to make sure it's the school you'd expect. * **Fuzzy** (yellow check) — the name on the transcript doesn't match an institution we know exactly, but it's close enough that we're confident it's the same school. This catches the common abbreviations transcripts use — *"Volunteer State Cmty College"* for *"Volunteer State Community College"*, *"Columbia St Cmty College"* for *"Columbia State Community College"*, and so on. Glance at the **Matched Institution** column the same way you would on a Prefix match. * **No match** (gray) — we couldn't find any institution that looked right. You'll need to find it yourself, or decide what to do about it. See [When an institution can't be matched](/working-with-packages/when-an-institution-cant-be-matched.md). * **No access** (yellow lock) — we found the institution in our library, but your team doesn't currently have permission to see its course catalog. You can still pick it; the row's row-level message updates to *"Access will be requested"* and we'll send the request when the package is created. The picker also shows other no-access institutions in search results — each appears with a **Request Access** button in place of the usual **Select**, so picking and requesting access happen in one click. ### Overriding a match If the auto-match is wrong, click the **Matched Institution** field on that row to open the search picker. Type any part of the institution's name; results update as you type. Click **Select** on the right institution. You can override any row — including ones Mapademics matched as Exact — for any reason. The picker is the source of truth for what gets used; the auto-match is just a starting suggestion. ### Leaving a transfer row unresolved The picker on **Transfer** rows has an extra option at the bottom: **— Leave unresolved —**. Choose this when: * The institution can't be matched and isn't important enough to chase down (a single-course summer enrollment, say). * You want to get the package built and resolve the institution later. What "unresolved" actually means in practice: the student's courses from that institution will still be added to the package. They just won't be tied to a real catalog, so Mapademics won't pull that institution's course descriptions or credit values automatically. You'll match those courses against your own catalog by hand on the **Course Equivalencies** tab, the same way you would on a manually-created package. {% hint style="info" %} **The Issuer can't be left unresolved.** The picker doesn't show the option on the Issuer row. The issuing institution is what the whole package is anchored to, so we won't let you skip it. {% endhint %} ### View access requests If you pick an institution your team doesn't have access to yet, a banner appears at the bottom of the dialog: *"View access will be requested for N institutions when the package is created."* This means: when you click **Create Package**, we send a request to make that institution's catalog visible to your team. The package still gets created. The institution's catalog will become available once the access request is approved — at which point the courses tied to that institution will start matching against the real catalog automatically. The Issuer is the exception. If the issuing institution requires access, you can't proceed until either access is granted or you replace the row with an accessible institution. The dialog will tell you explicitly: *"The issuing institution requires view access. Select an accessible institution or request access first."* ### Finishing up When the Issuer is resolved and every Transfer row is either resolved or set to **Leave unresolved**, the **Create Package** button at the bottom becomes active. Click it. The dialog closes and you're taken straight into the new package, on the **Transcript Review** tab, where the actual review work begins. *** ## What happens after you click Create Package The new package moves through the lifecycle automatically. What you see depends on whether Mapademics already has the catalogs for the institutions you confirmed. * **If we already have all the catalogs**, the package lands in **Transcript Review** stage and the **Transcript Review** tab populates immediately with extracted lines and their identified source courses. * **If any catalog is new**, the package starts in **Transcript Research** stage with a *Researching X%* progress bar while we fetch the missing catalog(s). You can leave it and come back; it'll move to Transcript Review on its own. Either way, your next step is the **Transcript Review** tab. See [Reviewing the transcript](/working-with-packages/transcript-review.md). *** ## Next steps * [When an institution can't be matched](/working-with-packages/when-an-institution-cant-be-matched.md) * [Reviewing the transcript](/working-with-packages/transcript-review.md) * [How a package flows](/working-with-packages/how-a-package-flows.md) --- # Agent Instructions: Querying This Documentation If you need additional information that is not directly available in this page, you can query the documentation dynamically by asking a question. Perform an HTTP GET request on the current page URL with the `ask` query parameter: ``` GET https://transfers-docs.mapademics.com/working-with-packages/importing-a-transcript.md?ask= ``` The question should be specific, self-contained, and written in natural language. The response will contain a direct answer to the question and relevant excerpts and sources from the documentation. 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