Are you a NUS Teaching Assistant (TA) struggling to keep track of your student's data between spreadsheets and different apps?
Are you a TA that prefers typing commands over clicking through menus?

Look no further! Teacher Assistant's Assistant (TAA) is a desktop app that consolidates all your student management needs in one place. It leverages the speed of fast typists while maintaining a clean visual display, so you can manage students and track assignments, participation, and attendance — all without leaving your keyboard!

Spend less time organizing data and more time focusing on what matters most: teaching.

Downloading and Launching the app

1. Ensure you have Java 17 or above installed on your computer.
   To install it or verify that you have the right version installed, you can refer to this guide.

2. Download the latest version of the app (called TAA.jar) from our GitHub page here:

3. Move TAA.jar into a new folder used to contain the app's data. We recommend naming this folder "TAA" and putting it in your Downloads folder.

4. To launch TAA, open a command terminal and follow the instructions for your Operating System:

cd "%USERPROFILE%\Downloads\TAA"

    

    


    
    

java -jar TAA.jar

    

    


    
    

cd ~/Downloads/"TAA"

    

    


    
    

java -jar TAA.jar

    

    


    
    

You should see TAA launch:

Here is a brief overview of the user interface:

Core Concepts

Before diving into features, let's learn how TAA organises your data.

Students vs Session Data

TAA manages two types of information:

• Static information (per student):
  • Name, phone, email, matric number, tags
  • Used for identifying and contacting students
• Session-based information (per group, per date):
  • Attendance
  • Participation
  • Assignment grades

👉 This means a student can have different attendance, participation, and grades across different groups and dates.

Groups as Context

Most actions in TAA happen within a group context.

• You switch into a group using:

switchgroup g/GROUP_NAME

    

    


    
    

• Then perform actions like:
• mark, unmark (attendance)
• part (participation)
• view (session overview)
• createassignment, gradeassignment

👉 Think of it as: “I am currently working in this group.”

Layouts Control What You See and Edit

TAA has different layouts:

• list → shows a list of students in the current group
• view → shows an overview of attendance and participation across sessions

👉 Important:

• Commands act on what is currently displayed
• Always check your current group before running commands (shown bottom right of the app)

Index-based Operations

Many commands use i/INDEX or i/INDEX_EXPRESSION.

• Indexes change depending on your current group

👉 Tip: Run list or view before using index-based commands to avoid mistakes.

Recommended Workflows

Here are some common workflows that TAA supports.

Adding and organizing students

1. Add students:

add n/John Doe p/98765432 e/johnd@example.com m/A1234567X

    

    


    
    

2. Create a group:

creategroup g/2026-S1-T01

    

    


    
    

3. Add students to the group:

addtogroup g/2026-s1-t01 i/1-5

    

    


    
    

Taking attendance for a class

1. Switch to the group:

switchgroup g/2026-s1-t01

    

    


    
    

2. Open or focus on a session:

view d/2026-03-16

    

    


    
    

3. Mark students as present:

mark i/1-10

    

    


    
    

4. Mark absentees:

unmark i/3

    

    


    
    

Recording participation

After opening a session:

part i/1 pv/4

    

    


    
    

• Participation values range from 0 to 5

Managing assignments

1. Create an assignment:

createassignment a/Quiz 1 d/2026-04-05 mm/20

    

    


    
    

2. Grade students:

gradeassignment a/Quiz 1 i/1-5 gr/18

    

    


    
    

Exporting data

Export the current session view to a CSV file:

exportview f/t01-view.csv

    

    


    
    

General usage pattern

Most workflows follow this pattern:

1. Select a group
2. Open a view (list or view)
3. Perform actions using indexes

👉 If something doesn’t work, check that you're in the right Group

Command Parameters and their Rules

This section describes the valid formats for commonly used fields in TAA commands.

You don't need to memorise everything — refer back here if a command fails due to invalid input.

Index Expressions

Many commands in TAA accept an i/INDEX or i/INDEX_EXPRESSION parameter to refer to one or more students. The index refers to the position shown in the current list or view.

Supported formats:

• INDEX
  • Single index: i/1
• INDEX_EXPRESSION
  • Multiple indexes: i/1,2,4
  • Ranges: i/1-4
  • Mixed: i/1,3-5

Rules:

• Indexes must be positive integers (1, 2, 3, …)
• Ranges must be in ascending order (i/3-2 is invalid)
• Indexes must correspond to valid entries in the current list/view

Name

• Cannot start or end with:
  • space, apostrophe ('), hyphen (-), or forward slash (/)
• Allowed characters:
  • Letters (including Unicode, e.g. ã, é, ç)
  • Numbers
  • Spaces
  • Apostrophes, hyphens, forward slashes (with restrictions)
• Maximum length: 300 characters

Examples:

• John Doe
• Mary-Jane O'Brien
• Renée
• X Æ A-Xii

Phone

• Must contain 3 to 20 digits
• May:
  • Start with +
  • Include spaces, hyphens, or brackets (for area codes)
• Must start and end with a digit

Examples:

• 98765432
• +1 (650) 253-0000
• 911

Email

Must follow the format: local-part + @ + domain-name

• Local part:
  • Alphanumeric characters and +, _, ., -
  • Cannot start or end with special characters
• Domain:
  • Labels separated by .
  • Each label:
    • Alphanumeric, may include hyphens
    • Cannot start or end with hyphen
  • Final label must be at least 2 characters

Examples:

• john@example.com
• e1234567@u.nus.edu.sg

Matric Number

• Must follow NUS format:
  • Starts with A
  • Followed by 7 digits
  • Ends with a valid checksum letter

Examples:

• A1234567X

Tag

• Alphanumeric characters only
• No spaces

Examples:

• scholar
• exchangeStudent

Group Name

The g/GROUP_NAME parameter is used to identify tutorial or lab groups.

Allowed characters:

• Letters (A–Z, a–z)
• Numbers (0–9)
• Spaces
• Hyphens (-)
• Underscores (_)

Rules:

• Must not start with a hyphen (-) or underscore (_), such as:
  • -T09
  • _T09

Examples:

• T01
• CS2103T T09
• Lab_Group_1

Max Marks and Grade

The mm/MAX_MARKS parameter refers to the maximum marks (grade) for an Assignment.

• Allowed value: A whole number from 1 to 2147483647 (this number is the technical limit)

The gr/GRADE parameter refers to the grade (marks) for an Assignment given to a Student.

• Allowed value: A 3-decimal-place number from 0 to MAX_MARKS

Feature: Managing Students

Adding a student: add

Adds a student to TAA.

Format: add n/NAME p/PHONE e/EMAIL m/MATRIC_NUMBER [t/TAG]…​

Examples:

• add n/John Doe p/98765432 e/johnd@example.com m/A1234567X t/scholar Adds a student named John Doe with phone number 98765432, email johnd@example.com, matric number A1234567X, and one tag named scholar.

Related FAQs:

• What is considered a duplicate student?

Listing student contact details: list

Shows a list of all students in the current group.

Format: list

Examples:

• list when Current Group: T01 Shows a list of all the students in group T01.
• list when Current Group: No Group Selected Shows a list of all the students in TAA.

Editing a student: edit

Edits an existing student in the TAA.

Format: edit i/INDEX [n/NAME] [p/PHONE] [e/EMAIL] [m/MATRIC_NUMBER] [t/TAG]…​

• At least one of the optional fields must be provided.
• Existing values will be updated to the input values.
• When editing tags, the existing tags of the student will be removed i.e adding of tags is not cumulative.
• You can remove all the student’s tags by typing t/ without specifying any tags after it.

Examples:

• edit i/1 p/91234567 e/johndoe@example.com Edits the phone number and email address of the 1st student to be 91234567 and johndoe@example.com respectively.
• edit i/2 n/Betsy Crower t/ Edits the name of the 2nd student to be Betsy Crower and clears all existing tags.

Related FAQs:

• What is considered a duplicate student?
• What happens when I edit the tags of a student?
• How can I remove all tags from a student?

Locating students by parameters: find

Finds and lists students whose fields match any of the given parameters in the current group.

Format: find [n/NAME]... [p/PHONE]... [e/EMAIL]... [m/MATRIC_NUMBER]... [t/TAG]...

• At least one parameter must be provided.
• The search is case-insensitive. e.g n/john will match the name John
• The search lists partial matches. e.g. n/john will match the name John Doe
• students matching at least one parameter will be listed (i.e. OR search) though students who match more parameters will be listed first.
• Multiple of the same parameter type can be used. e.g. find n/alex n/david returns a list of students with names containing alex or david

Examples:

• find n/john Returns students with the names john and John Doe.

• find n/john p/987 e/example.com m/123 t/scholar Returns students with a name containing john, a phone number containing 987, an email containing example.com, a matric number containing 123 or a tag containing scholar.

• find n/alex n/david Returns the students Alex Yeoh, David Li.
  

  

Deleting a student: delete

Deletes the specified student from TAA.

Format: delete i/INDEX

Examples:

• list followed by delete i/2 Deletes the 2nd student in the current list.
• find n/Betsy followed by delete i/1 Deletes the 1st student in the result list of the find command.

Feature: Managing Groups

Creating a group: creategroup

Adds a tutorial group to TAA.

Format: creategroup g/GROUP_NAME

• Group names may only contain letters, numbers, spaces, hyphens, and underscores.
  • Hyphens and underscores cannot appear at the start of the group name.
  • Example: g/-T09 and g/_T09 are invalid group names.

Examples:

• creategroup g/T01 Creates the group T01.

Deleting a group: deletegroup

Deletes a tutorial group from TAA.

Format: deletegroup g/GROUP_NAME

Examples:

• deletegroup g/T01 Deletes the group T01.

Listing all groups: listgroups

Shows a list of all groups in TAA.

Format: listgroups

Examples:

• listgroups when in Current Group: T01 or Current Group: No Group Selected shows a list of all the groups in TAA.

Add students to group: addtogroup

Adds one or more students to a group. Students can be identified either by matric number or index expression.

Format:

• addtogroup g/GROUP_NAME m/MATRIC_NUMBER [m/MATRIC_NUMBER]
• addtogroup g/GROUP_NAME i/INDEX_EXPRESSION

Examples:

• addtogroup g/T01 m/A1234567X m/A2345678L Adds students with matric number A1234567X and A2345678L to group T01.
• addtogroup g/Project Team i/1,3,5,7 Adds students at indexes 1, 3, 5, and 7 from the current list to group Project Team.

Remove student from group: removefromgroup

Removes one or more students from a group. Students can be identified either by matric number or index expression. This only removes the student’s membership from the group, not the student from the TAA.

Format:

• removefromgroup g/GROUP_NAME m/MATRIC_NUMBER [m/MATRIC_NUMBER]
• removefromgroup g/GROUP_NAME i/INDEX_EXPRESSION

Examples:

• removefromgroup g/T01 m/A1234567X m/A2345678L Removes students with matric number A1234567X and A2345678L from group T01.
• removefromgroup g/Project Team i/1,3,5,7 Removes students with the index 1, 3, 5, 7 from the list in the current group Project Team.

Rename group: renamegroup

Changes the name of a group.

Format: renamegroup g/OLD_GROUP_NAME new/NEW_GROUP_NAME

Examples:

• renamegroup g/T01 new/Tutorial-01 Renames group T01 to Tutorial-01.

Switching groups: switchgroup

Switches into or out of a group.

Format:

• switchgroup g/GROUP_NAME
• switchgroup all

Examples:

• switchgroup g/T01 Switches current group to T01
• switchgroup all Switches out of the current group (i.e. No Group Selected).

Feature: Managing Attendance and Participation

Assign participation to a student: part

Assigns a participation level for a student in a group for a particular date.

Format: part i/INDEX_EXPRESSION d/YYYY-MM-DD pv/PARTICIPATION_VALUE

• PARTICIPATION_VALUE must be an integer from 0 to 5.
• The participation will be assigned for the current group.

Examples:

• part i/1 d/2026-03-16 pv/4 Assigns a participation level of 4 on the 16 of March 2026 for the student at index 1 for the current list.

Mark student attendance as present: mark

Marks the attendance for a student in a group as PRESENT for a particular date.

Format: mark i/INDEX_EXPRESSION d/YYYY-MM-DD

• The attendance will be assigned for the current group.

Examples:

• mark i/1 d/2026-03-16 Marks the attendance of the student at index 1 of the current list as PRESENT for the 16 of March 2026.

Mark student attendance as absent: unmark

Marks the attendance for a student in a group as ABSENT for a particular date.

Format: unmark i/INDEX_EXPRESSION d/YYYY-MM-DD

• The attendance will be assigned for the current group.

Examples:

• unmark i/1 d/2026-03-16 Marks the attendance of the student at index 1 of the current list as ABSENT for the 16 of March 2026.

See overview of attendance and participation: view

Shows the attendance and participation overview for the current group.

Format: view [STATUS] [d/YYYY-MM-DD] [from/YYYY-MM-DD] [to/YYYY-MM-DD] [g/GROUP_NAME]

After using view d/YYYY-MM-DD, you can use shorthand follow-up commands without repeating the date or group:

• mark i/1
• unmark i/1
• part i/1 pv/4

You can still use the full forms if needed:

• mark i/1 d/2026-03-16
• unmark i/1 d/2026-03-16
• part i/1 d/2026-03-16 pv/4

Examples:

• view Shows the semester overview of attendance and participation for the current group.
• view d/2026-03-16 Highlights the session on 16 March 2026.
• view absent d/2026-03-16 Shows the list of students who have the attendance status ABSENT on 16 March 2026 for the current group.
• view from/2026-03-01 to/2026-03-31 Shows only March 2026 session columns in the overview.

Feature: Managing Assignments

Create assignment: createassignment (createa)

Creates an assignment for students in the current group with a due date and maximum marks.

Format:

• createassignment a/ASSIGNMENT_NAME d/DUE_DATE mm/MAX_MARKS

Notes:

• Assignments are unique within a group. The same assignment name can exist in different groups.
• When a student is added to a group, all existing group assignments will automatically be shown as ungraded for that student.

Examples:

• createassignment a/Quiz 1 d/2026-04-05 mm/20 Creates assignment Quiz 1 for the current group with a due date on 5 April 2026 and maximum marks of 20.

Edit assignment: editassignment (edita)

Edits an existing assignment for students in the current group .

Format:

• editassignment a/ASSIGNMENT_NAME [na/NEW_ASSIGNMENT_NAME] [d/NEW_DUE_DATE] [mm/NEW_MAX_MARKS]

Note: At least one optional field should be provided.

Examples:

• editassignment a/Quiz 1 na/Test d/2026-04-08 mm/25 Changes existing assignment Quiz 1 for the current group to have a name Test, a due date on 8 April 2026 and maximum marks of 25.

Listing all assignments: listassignments (lista)

Shows a list of all assignments for the current group.

Format:

• listassignments when Current Group: T01 shows a list of the assignments for the group T01.

Grade assignment: gradeassignment (gradea)

Grades an assignment for students in the current group.

Format:

• gradeassignment a/ASSIGNMENT_NAME i/INDEX_EXPRESSION gr/GRADE
• gradeassignment a/ASSIGNMENT_NAME m/MATRIC_NUMBER [m/MATRIC_NUMBER] gr/GRADE

Notes:

• GRADE is a number between 0 and max marks.
• Grading again overwrites the old grade.

Examples:

• gradeassignment a/Quiz 1 m/A1234567X m/A2345678L gr/17 Assigns a grade of 17 for the assignment Quiz 1 to the students with matric number A1234567X and A2345678L for the current group.

Deleting an assignment: deleteassignment (deletea)

Deletes an assignment for the students in the current group.

Format:

• deleteassignment a/ASSIGNMENT_NAME

Examples:

• deleteassignment a/Quiz 1 Deletes the assignment Quiz 1 for all students in the current group.

Feature: Managing Sessions

Add a session: addsession

Adds a session for the current group or a specified group.

Format: addsession d/YYYY-MM-DD [g/GROUP_NAME] [n/NOTE]

• Adds a session with specified date for all students in the group.
• New sessions start with UNINITIALISED attendance and participation value of 0.
• You can optionally attach a short note such as tutorial, lab, or make-up.
• If the session already exists for every student in that class, the command will be rejected.

Examples:

• addsession d/2026-03-16 When Current Group: T01, adds a session of date 16 March 2026 for group T01.
• addsession d/2026-03-16 n/tutorial When Current Group: T01, adds a session of date 16 March 2026 with a note of tutorial for group T01.
• addsession d/2026-03-16 g/T01 When Current Group: No Group Selected, adds a session of date 16 March 2026 for group T01.

Edit a session date: editsession

Edits an existing session's date, note, or both for the current group or a specified group.

Format: editsession d/OLD_DATE [nd/NEW_DATE] [nn/NEW_NOTE] [g/GROUP_NAME]

• At least one of nd/ or nn/ must be provided.
• Use nn/ with no text after it to clear the existing note.
• Editing a session preserves the student's attendance and participation values.
• If a session already exists on the new date for the same student, the command will be rejected to avoid overwriting data.

Examples:

• editsession d/2026-03-16 nd/2026-03-23 When Current Group: T01, edits the date of the session for 16 March 2026 and changes it to 23 March 2026 for group T01.
• editsession d/2026-03-16 nn/lab When Current Group: T01, edits the note of the session for 16 March 2026 to lab.
• editsession d/2026-03-16 nd/2026-03-23 nn/make-up tutorial When Current Group: T01, edits the date of the session for 16 March 2026 and changes it to 23 March 2026 and adds a note make-up-tutorial for group T01.
• editsession d/2026-03-16 nd/2026-03-23 g/T01 When Current Group: No Group Selected, edits the date of the session for 16 March 2026 and changes it to 23 March 2026 for group T01.

Delete a session: deletesession

Deletes a session for the current group or a specified group.

Format: deletesession d/YYYY-MM-DD [g/GROUP_NAME]

• Removes that date's session (and attendance/participation) across all students in the group.
• If g/GROUP_NAME is omitted, the session is deleted from the current group.
• If the deleted date is currently highlighted in view, the highlight is cleared.

Examples:

• deletesession d/2026-03-16 When Current Group: T01, deletes the session of date 16 March 2026 for group T01.
• deletesession d/2026-03-16 g/T01 When Current Group: No Group Selected, deletes the session of date 16 March 2026 for group T01.

Utility commands

Viewing help: help

Shows a message explaining how to access the help page.

Format: help

Clearing all entries: clear

Clears all entries from TAA. This includes all students, groups, assignments and sessions.

Format: clear

Examples:

• clear when Current Group: T01 or Current Group: No Group Selected deletes all entries from TAA, regardless of view.

Export the current session overview: exportview

Exports the currently displayed view matrix to a CSV-formatted file.

Format: exportview [f/FILE_NAME]

• The exported CSV file contains the students shown in the current session overview.
• If no file name is provided, TAA will write to [JAR file location]/view-export.csv.
• If a file name is provided, TAA will write to [JAR file location]/[FILE_NAME]

Examples:

• exportview When Current Group: T01, exports to a file named view-export.csv containing the sessions, attendance and participation values for group T01.
• exportview f/exports/t01-view.csv When Current Group: T01, exports to a file named t01-view.csv in a folder exports containing the sessions, attendance and participation values for group T01.

For an example of the exported CSV structure, refer to the CSV file format section below.

CSV file format

The exported CSV file contains the students shown in the current session overview.

Each row represents one student.

The columns are arranged as follows:

• The first column is Student.
• The remaining columns are grouped by date.
• For each date, there are two columns:
  • <date> Attendance
  • <date> Participation

Example:

Exiting the program: exit

Exits the program.

Format: exit

Managing your data and save file

Saving the data

Your data will be saved automatically as a JSON file [JAR file location]/data/TAA_savefile.json after any command that changes the data. You do not need to save any changes manually.

Editing the save file

You are welcome to update data directly by editing the TAA_savefile.json save file. You are recommended to back up your data before beginning.

You can edit the save file using pre-installed text editors found on your computer:

• Windows: Notepad
• MacOS: TextEdit
• Linux: gedit

{
  "persons" : [ {
    "name" : "NAME",
    "phone" : "PHONE",
    "email" : "EMAIL",
    "matricNumber" : "MATRIC_NUMBER",
    "tags" : [ "TAGS" ],
    "groups" : [ "GROUP_NAME" ],
    "groupSessions" : {
      "GROUP_NAME" : [ {
        "date" : "YYYY-MM-DD",
        "attendance" : "ATTENDANCE_STATUS",
        "participation" : PARTICIPATION_VALUE,
        "note" : "NOTE"
      } ]
    },
    "assignmentGrades" : {
      "GROUP_NAME" : {
        "ASSIGNMENT_NAME" : ASSIGNMENT_MARKS (this field must be less than or equal to MAX_MARKS)
      }
    }
  } ],
  "groups" : [ {
    "name" : "GROUP_NAME",
    "assignments" : [ {
      "name" : "ASSIGNMENT_NAME",
      "dueDate" : "YYYY-MM-DD",
      "maxMarks" : MAX_MARKS
    } ],
    "sessions" : [ {
      "date" : "YYYY-MM-DD",
      "attendance" : "UNINITIALISED", (this field should be kept at "UNINITIALISED")
      "participation" : 0, (this field should be kept at 0)
      "note" : ""
    } ]
  } ]
}

    

    


    
    

{
  "persons" : [ {
    "name" : "John",
    "phone" : "12345678",
    "email" : "example@gmail.com",
    "matricNumber" : "A1234567X",
    "tags" : [ ],
    "groups" : [ "T02" ],
    "groupSessions" : {
      "T02" : [ {
        "date" : "2026-04-03",
        "attendance" : "PRESENT",
        "participation" : 3,
        "note" : ""
      } ]
    },
    "assignmentGrades" : {
      "T02" : {
        "Assignment 1" : 100
      }
    }
  } ],
  "groups" : [ {
    "name" : "T02",
    "assignments" : [ {
      "name" : "Assignment 1",
      "dueDate" : "2026-05-01",
      "maxMarks" : 100
    } ],
    "sessions" : [ {
      "date" : "2026-04-03",
      "attendance" : "UNINITIALISED",
      "participation" : 0,
      "note" : ""
    } ]
  } ]
}

    

    


    
    

Related FAQs:

• How do I back up my data?
• How do I transfer my data to another computer?
• What is considered a duplicate student?
• I edited the save file manually and TAA no longer works. What should I do?
• I see preservedSkippedPersons, preservedSkippedGroups and loadWarnings in my save file. What are they?
• What happens if my manually edited students are invalid?
• What happens if my manually edited groups are invalid?

Command Summary

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

  "preservedSkippedPersons" : [ ],
  "preservedSkippedGroups" : [ ],
  "loadWarnings" : [ ]

    

    


    
    

{
  "preservedSkippedPersons" : [ {
    "name" : "John",
    "phone" : "12345678",
    "email" : "example@gmail.com",
    "matricNumber" : "A1234567Y",
    "tags" : [ ],
    "groups" : [ ],
    "groupSessions" : { },
    "assignmentGrades" : { }
  } ],
  "loadWarnings": [
    "Skipped invalid contact 'John':\n- The matric number checksum letter is incorrect.",
    "For the given digits, it should be 'X'."
  ]
}

    

    


    
    

{
  "preservedSkippedPersons": [
    {
      "name": "John",
      "phone": "12345678",
      "email": "example@gmail.com",
      "matricNumber": "A1234567X",
      "tags": [],
      "groups": [
        "T02"
      ],
      "groupSessions": {
        "T02": [
          {
            "date": "2026-04-03",
            "attendance": "PRESENT",
            "participation": 3,
            "note": ""
          }
        ]
      },
      "assignmentGrades": {
        "T02": {
          "Assignment 1": 100
        }
      }
    }
  ],
  "preservedSkippedGroups": [
    {
      "name": "T02#",
      "assignments": [
        {
          "name": "Assignment 1",
          "dueDate": "2026-05-01",
          "maxMarks": 100
        }
      ],
      "sessions": [
        {
          "date": "2026-04-03",
          "attendance": "UNINITIALISED",
          "participation": 0,
          "note": ""
        }
      ]
    }
  ],
  "loadWarnings": [
    "Skipped invalid group 'T02#':\n- Group names should only contain letters, numbers, spaces, hyphens,",
    "and underscores, and it should not be blank.",
    "Skipped invalid contact 'John':\n- Contact references group 'T02' which does not exist yet."
  ]
}