Import and Export

Questions move in and out of Next Exams in five formats. Import is a three-stage process — inspect, preview, run — so you see exactly what will be created before anything is written.

The import preview screen, showing the detected format, a table of parsed questions with their type, stem, subject and validation state, rows with warnings highlighted, and the counts of valid and rejected rows above the Run button

Formats

Format	Import	Export	Notes
CSV	Yes	Yes	You map your own columns. Round-trips through Next Exams.
Aiken	Yes	—	A simple plain-text multiple-choice format.
GIFT	Yes	—	Moodle's plain-text question format.
Moodle XML	Yes	Yes	The common route out of an existing Moodle question bank.
QTI 2.1	Yes	Yes	The interoperability standard. Covers every question type.

Importing

The three stages exist so nothing is written on a guess.

Inspect — upload the file. The format is detected and, for CSV, the columns are read so you can map them.
Preview — every row is parsed and validated, and you see the questions that will be created, including any that failed validation and why.
Run — the valid rows are written.

Imported questions are created through the same code path as a question typed in by hand, so the same validation applies. A row that would produce an invalid question is rejected at preview rather than creating something broken.

CSV mapping

CSV has no agreed schema for questions, so Next Exams does not assume one. On the inspect step you map each of your columns onto a Next Exams field — stem, type, options, correct answer, subject, points, and so on. The mapping is applied at preview, so you can correct it and look again before writing anything.

QTI 2.1

QTI is the format to use when the questions might need to travel again.

Export emits genuine QTI interactions — choice, order, match, text entry and extended text — so the file is usable by any QTI-aware system, not just this one. Alongside them it writes a compact vendor extension carrying the native Next Exams answer key.

Import prefers that vendor extension when it is present, and otherwise parses the real QTI structure:

QTI structure	Becomes
Choice interaction	Multiple choice, single or multiple
Order interaction	Ordering
Match interaction	Matching
Several text-entry gaps in one body	Cloze
Multiple choice sharing one option bank	Extended matching
A response-processing mapping	Proportional partial credit
A float base type	Numeric short answer

The practical consequence: a Next Exams to Next Exams QTI round trip is lossless, because the native key travels with the file. A round trip through a third-party system keeps everything QTI itself can express.

Exporting

Export produces CSV, Moodle XML or QTI 2.1 for the questions you select. Exports open as a direct download.

Export is also the answer to two operational questions:

Backing up the bank before a bulk edit or a risky import.
Moving between sites — export from staging, import to production.

Warning: uninstalling Next Exams drops its database tables, taking every question with them. If you are about to uninstall, export first.

Access control

Action	Required permission
Import questions	`questions` — create
Export questions	`questions` — view, plus edit on questions or export on reports

Import and export is a switchable app. Turning it off removes both pages and their endpoints; the question bank itself is untouched.