Raw progression exports give you the most flexible way to analyse learning progress outside the platform. This article shows you practical Excel techniques to isolate specific groups, customise views, and combine information across sheets.
What you get in a raw progression export
Depending on the export type you selected, your Excel file can include raw sheets such as:
Users (raw user attributes)
Activities or Journeys (raw content data, depending on your reporting level)
Progress (raw progress records)
Before you start in Excel
Open the export file in Excel
Identify the sheet you’ll analyse first (many teams start with the progress sheet or a user-level sheet)
Turn on filters:
Select the header row
Go to Data > Filter
Filter groups using Excel text filters
Raw exports often store group membership in a single column, and a user may have multiple groups in the same cell. In that case, standard filtering can feel limited. Use Text Filters instead
Filter for users in a specific group (Contains)
Click the filter dropdown on the Groups column
Select Text Filters
Click Contains
Type the group name (for example: “Onboarding”)
Click OK
💡 Tip:
Use Contains when a cell includes multiple groups (for example: “Programme Groups, Onboarding 1.0”).
Custom sorting for deeper insights
Sorting helps you identify patterns fast (for example, who is stuck, or which activities are lagging).
Sort by status or completion signals
Click anywhere inside your dataset
Go to Data > Sort
Choose a column to sort by (for example: progress status, completion value, completion date)
Choose ascending or descending sort
Click OK
💡 Tip:
Use sorting to quickly surface learners who are Not started or In progress, so you can target follow-ups.
Combine data from different sheets using VLOOKUP
When your information is spread across sheets (for example, progress data on one sheet and user status on another), you can bring it together using VLOOKUP
Example: add a value from the Users sheet into your main sheet
Go to the sheet where you want the extra data (for example: a user-level progress sheet)
Click the top empty cell in the column where you want the new data to appear
Paste a VLOOKUP formula and press Enter
Example pattern:
=VLOOKUP(A3, 'OtherSheet'!A:Z, 12, FALSE)
What it means:
A2is the value you’re matching (often a user ID or email)'OtherSheet'!A:Zis the range that contains the matching value12is the column number inside that range that contains the field you want to returnFALSEreturns an exact match only
Example using the Users sheet in the export
=VLOOKUP(A4, '#Users'!A:L, 12, FALSE)
🔥 Important:
The column number (12 in the example) depends on where the field sits inside your selected range. If you change the range, you may need to change the column number too.
Fill the formula down the column
Select the cell with the formula
Hover over the bottom-right corner of the cell until you see a small square
Drag down to fill the formula for all rows
Build a reusable Excel template
If you run exports regularly, create a template once and reuse it.
Download a raw export file
Create a new workbook that contains:
Your preferred columns
Your charts or pivot tables
Your formulas (like VLOOKUP)
For each new export:
Copy the raw sheets from the new export
Paste them into your template workbook
Refresh your pivots/charts if needed
Troubleshooting in Excel
VLOOKUP returns #N/A: The lookup value doesn’t exist in the other sheet, or the formats don’t match (number vs text).
Wrong value returned: Your column number doesn’t match the correct return column within the selected range.
Filtering misses rows: Check for extra spaces or inconsistent group naming.