---
title: "Add attendees to a seminar"
slug: "add-attendees-to-a-seminar"
tags: ["Content Creator", "How-to", "Totara Learn"]
updated: 2026-08-13T16:01:17Z
published: 2026-08-13T16:01:17Z
canonical: "totara.help/add-attendees-to-a-seminar"
---

> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://totara.help/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Add attendees to a seminar

It is possible for Site Administrators, Editing Trainers, and Trainers to add learners as attendees to a seminar event. To do this they will need to:

1. Go to the seminar activity you wish to add attendees to.
2. Alongside the corresponding event click the **Attendees** link.

Within the Attendees tab, the **Actions** dropdown provides the following options:

- **Add users**: Add users manually
- **Add users via file upload**: Add users via .csv file upload
- **Add users via list of IDs**: Add users by entering in their ID number, email address, or username
- **Remove users**: [Remove confirmed attendees](/totara-20/docs/remove-attendees-from-a-seminar) from the event

See the relevant section below for each method.

## Manually adding users

You can manually add attendees by searching for the user by first name, last name or email address and/or by browsing a list of available users.

1. Within the **Attendees** tab select **Add users** from the **Actions** dropdown menu.
2. Search for users or browse the list of **Potential users**.
3. When you find the user you want to add click their name(s) from the **Potential user** list.
  - You can select multiple individuals by holding **Ctrl**/**Cmd** or **Shift** when you click.
  - You can filter search results within the **Potential users** area using the **Show only users who declared interest in this activity** check box.
  - You can also choose to **Allow scheduling conflicts** so learners can be added to an event where they are already booked to attend another event.
4. Click the **Add** button.
5. Click the **Continue** button to confirm your updates or **Cancel** to return to the **Attendees** page.
6. You now have the option to update your user selection via the **Change selected users** link.
7. Where custom fields have been added to the sign-up form you can edit them for all selected users (please see [Creating custom fields](/totara-20/docs/seminar-custom-fields) for more information).
8. Select **Confirm** to add the selected users.

You can configure the notifications that will be sent for the **Booking confirmed** trigger (i.e. when a user has been added to the seminar event) [at the site level](/totara-20/docs/edit-a-notification) or for an [individual seminar](/totara-20/docs/configure-seminar-notifications).

To enter different values for each user, you will need to use the **Add users via file upload** option.

When a seminar event has [wait-listing](/totara-20/docs/wait-listed-events) enabled and attendees are added by a Site Administrator or Trainer, the number of users that may be booked on the event can only be within the event's room capacity. Any additional learners will remain on the wait-list.

Site Administrations or users with the **mod/facetoface:signupwaitlist** capability will be able to confirm and book all wait-listed users where an event allows overbooking.

## Adding users via file upload

You can add attendees in bulk to an event using the **Add users via file upload** option. The file should be a CSV containing a heading row and one or more data rows. If a row contains multiple columns they should be separated by a comma (,). Every row must have the same number of columns.

The following fields must be provided:

- Username, idnumber, or email (choose only one, it will act as unique identifier for the user)

Optional fields:

- The unique shortname of each [custom field](/totara-20/docs/add-seminar-custom-fields) within the sign-up form

If the custom field is required, the CSV file must have a column for each custom field and value.

When select job assignment on sign up enabled, it will also recognise field **jobassignmentidnumber** for job assignments. Please see [Learner seminar bookings](/totara-20/docs/learner-seminar-bookings) and [Job assignments](/totara-20/docs/what-are-job-assignment) for more information.

To add users via this method you will need to follow these steps:

1. Go to the seminar activity you wish to add attendees to.
2. Alongside the corresponding event click the **Attendees** link.
3. Under the **Attendees** tab use the **Action** dropdown menu to select **Add users via file upload**.
4. Use the file picker to upload your CSV file.
5. Then select the relevant **Encoding** standard.
6. Click **Continue** to move to the next step.
7. If you want to you can update your user selection via the **Change selected users** link.
8. Next, choose which, if any, confirmation messages you wish to send to the selected users and their managers.
9. Finally, click **Confirm** to add the selected users or **Cancel**.

## Adding users via a list of IDs

You can add attendees in bulk to an event using the **Add users via list of IDs** option and entering in their ID number, email address, or username.

To add users via this method you will need to follow these steps:

1. Go to the seminar activity you wish to add attendees to.
2. Alongside the corresponding event click the **Attendees** link.
3. Under the **Attendees** tab use the **Action** dropdown menu to select **Add users via list of IDs**.
4. Choose your preferred **User identifier** from the dropdown list.
5. Enter the relevant details in the **User to add** box. Ensure you enter only one identifier per line.
6. When all details have been entered, click **Continue**.
7. If you need to you can update your user selection via the **Change selected users** link.
8. Next, choose which, if any, confirmation messages you wish to send to the selected users and their managers.
9. Where custom fields have been added to the sign-up form you can edit them for all selected users. To enter different values for each user, you will need to use the **Add users via file upload** option.
10. Select **Confirm** to add the selected users.

## Confirmation messages

After adding or [removing attendees](/totara-20/docs/remove-attendees-from-a-seminar) you will be returned to the **Attendees** page receive an on screen success message. You can view a breakdown of all actions by clicking on **View results**.

## Confirmed attendees

When an event has attendees, they will be displayed below the **Actions** dropdown list. Their full name, time of sign-up, booking status, and organisation name(s) will display as well as their responses to any sign-up form custom fields.

The edit icon under the **Actions** heading will allow you to edit an attendees responses to any custom fields within the sign-up form.

## Adding attendees to a past seminar session

### Available from Totara v20.2

You can manually add learners to a seminar event after its session dates have passed, for example to record attendance for learners who attended but weren't booked in advance.

To add attendees to a past session, you need both of the following [permissions](/totara-20/docs/check-system-permissions) (*Quick-access menu > Users > Permissions > Check system permissions*.) :

| **Capability** | **Purpose** |
| --- | --- |
| mod/facetoface:addattendees | Add attendees |
| mod/facetoface:signuppastevents | Sign up to past event |

> [!WARNING]
> If either permission is missing, the Add users option will not be available for past events.

To add an attendee to a past seminar session:

1. Navigate to the Seminar activity in the course.
2. Locate the relevant event in the event list and click **Attendees** in the **Action** dropdown menu.
3. Under the **Attendees** tab use the **Action** dropdown menu to select, select **Add users**.
4. Use the **Search** text field to find the learner(s) you want to add, then click **Search**.
5. Select the learner(s) from the Potential users list and click Add (**→**).
6. Click **Continue** to proceed to the confirmation step.
7. Review the list of users to be added, then click **Confirm**.

The learners will now appear on the **Attendees** tab of the event.

![Course badge](https://cdn.document360.io/a007399b-031e-436b-999a-528240e16f58/Images/Documentation/course-badge_seminar-management(1).svg?sv=2026-02-06&spr=https&st=2026-11-05T00%3A41%3A49Z&se=2026-11-05T01%3A41%3A49Z&sr=c&sp=r&sig=n3ualMbbeDFBdkB5IyEnGZOhXLJBkA%2FFgYK5PTIxtao%3D)Why not visit the Totara Academy for our latest course on [Seminar Management](https://totara.community/course/view.php?id=958) in Totara Learn. Here you can learn more about how to use seminars, see best practice, and give it a go yourself.

Join the [Totara Community](https://totara.community/) for more resources to help you get the most out of Totara.

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