Autocrat Step-by-Step

“Using Autocrat Step-by-Step Amy Sorrell Antwerp Local School sorrell_a@antwerpschools.org @amylyn76 The instructions below, assume that you are starting with a spreadsheet already containing some data. This can be done through a Google Form or by manually typing in numbers into the Google Sheet. See my Google Forms for Rubrics Guide for more information. Install the Autocrat Add-on From you Google Sheet, click on Add-ons at the top of the screen and then click on Get Add-ons. Search for Autocrat and install it. Creating a Document to Send with Autocrat *These directions are going to be focused on using Autocrat to send Rubrics, but Autocrat can be used to send letters, certificates, and a lot of other documents. I’ve even seen a teacher send out Christmas cards to her students with it. Create a New Google Doc. Format the document as you want the students to see it. I use tables to break down each category, so students can see the criteria for each area. Here is an example for my yearbook class, but the document can also be very simple and just list the scores. Use <> to show where the data from the sheet will be inserted. (See Merge Tags below). Running Autocrat Launch from Add-ons. Click orange New Merge Job button. Autocrat will ask you to either choose a template you created in Drive or to create one. I recommend creating the document ahead of time and then adding in the Merge tags in the next step. Name the Merge Job. Merge Tags The next screen shows the Merge Tags that Autocrat pulled from your spreadsheet. These are the headings at the top. If you used a Google Form, these are your questions from the form. Notice the use of Brackets in the Merge Tags if you used a Grid Question in Google Forms. Type these Merge Tags within the Double Brackets << >> exactly as shown in the first column. These go in your document where you want the data from the Sheet to appear. Modify your original document if necessary. Click the blue Save button. Merge Settings Decide how you want the files you will be creating to be named and type it in File naming convention to use. Think about how you will eventually want them to be ordered after Autocrat has created multiple files. My yearbook students receive a weekly grade, so I am starting with the week number and then their names. Notice the $ in front of the words. These are the values from your spreadsheet. You have to type the $ for it to work. Select the file you want to create. You can choose from Google Doc or PDF. Check the box for Email and/or share merged documents (because that’s pretty much the whole point of Autocrat!) Type $email (or however you had it labeled in your Sheet). Remember you have to have student emails in the Sheet for this to work. If you used a Google Form, make one of your questions email. I used a List Question to create a drop down list of student emails. The next line is the Subject Line of the email. Type in what you want students to see as the subject line. If you want to use values from the Sheet, remember to use the $. Type the body of the email. Continue to scroll down. You cannot see the whole window at once. Select how you want the document to be sent to students. I recommend a View Only Google Doc or a PDF. Open the Advanced Settings. Choose a folder where you want the merged documents to be placed. If you used a Google Form to collect your information, you can check Run autoCrat when new forms are submitted. This means that every time you complete a rubric on your Google Form, Autocrat will automatically send the student the email and you will not have to go through all of these steps again unless you want to make changes. My rubric gets used at least ten times a week, so for me, this is where Autocrat is magic! Click the blue Save button. Run Merge You will next be prompted to run the merge. Before you do that, Preview it. This will show you what the completed rubric will look like before you send it, and it will give the opportunity to make sure all of your Merge Tags are correct. Once you’re happy with it, click Run Merge. This will send emails with attached rubrics directly to your students. Adding a Total If you would like the spreadsheet to total up points, insert a new column by clicking next to the column where you would like to insert the new column. Then go to Insert>Column (left or right) depending on where you need it. Title the column Total. Make sure you have <> on your rubric template to show students the total. Insert a SUM formula, by going to Insert>Function>SUM. This should be in the row immediately under your headers. Next install the add-on CopyDown. Go to Add-ons>Get Add-ons and search for CopyDown. Run CopyDown. It will find your formula. Select ON. Select the checkbox for your formula. More Resources Go to the New Visions Autocrat page for more tutorials. “