Top Tips for using the Arbor MIS efficiently

Finding your way around

• If you know what you are looking for, start typing in any search bar, and a drop-down will suggest groups or individuals you may be looking for: Global Search 
• If you are on a page in Arbor, you do not have to return to the home page to navigate around the system, just use the top navigation. You can see more details here: The top menu and site links
• On small screens, our left-hand and top navigation menus move into a burger menu, so you don't need to scroll to view the important information. Just click the three lines at the top right of any page to access the menu.

Making sure you have the right permissions

In Arbor, your permissions govern the data you can see, input and manage, so making sure you have the right permissions for your role is crucial. If you do not have the right permissions, you might find that:

• You have fewer options in the menu at the top of your Arbor and in the side menu of profiles and Overview pages 
• Buttons are missing or greyed out
• You see a warning message advising that a permission is missing when taking an action
• You see less data and fewer sections on certain pages (like student and staff profiles)
• You do not get certain notifications when others do

If you are not sure which permission you need for a certain action or task, these are some handy tools you can use to find out more:

• Search the Help Centre. Many guides list which permissions are need for a task in a dedicated Permissions section.
• Ask a question to our AI assistant using the speech bubble in the bottom-left corner of your School MIS or the Help Centre. For example, you might ask the AI, "Which permissions do I need to add a new student?" 
• If you're an Admin, perform a permissions check via School > Users & Security > Access Control > Check Permissions. More on this here: Check a staff member's permission to access different pages or buttons
• Reference the permissions list under School > Users & Security > Access Control > Permissions. See how that works here: See a list of permissions and who has which permissions

If you have determined you don't have the permission you need, please contact your admin team to ask them add this for you using these instructions.

Get information on what you're filling in

Across the Arbor site, on sections and in slide overs, hover over the question mark (?) for more information in a tool tip.

Bulk Actions

Bulk updating allows you to add information and perform actions for large groups of people. See our tips on using bulk actions here: How and what can I update using bulk actions?

Bulk Selecting in drop-down menus

Instead of having to manually select every option from a drop-down menu, you can bulk select which items to include.

Click the field to open the drop-down menu, then hold down your Shift, Command/Control and A keys to select all the items. Then click any items that you want to remove from your selection.

Copy and Paste into emails or text boxes

When copying and pasting text into Arbor, you may see issues with the formatting. This happens when you paste in the text with the formatting of the original document, such as Word. 

We have a handy button to fix formatting for Report Card comments (you can read more about this here), but for other areas of the system, you need to make sure you select the right pasting option.

When pasting, select Ctrl+Shift+V (on windows) or Paste and Match Style (on a Mac) rather than Paste to remove formatting from the text being pasted to bring it in line with the default settings, and ensure it is formatted correctly.