💿 What Is a PSPA CD?

✨ Overview

Schools often work with different photographers and vendors for student portraits and related services. To ensure these files can be used together across yearbook platforms, the Professional School Photographers Association (PSPA) created standardized formatting guidelines.

These guidelines define how portrait images and data must be organized so yearbook software can correctly match photos with student information.

Most PSPA discs you receive from photographers are already formatted correctly. However, if your disc isn’t working properly, the instructions below explain how to review and correct it.

📥 Before You Begin

Many CDs and DVDs are read-only, meaning you cannot edit files directly on them. Before making changes:

Create a new folder on your computer (Desktop recommended).

Copy all contents from the PSPA disc into that folder.

Your folder must contain two required elements:

INDEX.TXT file

Folder containing portrait images

📂 Locating Portrait Files

Inside the copied PSPA folder, you will find a directory that contains all portrait images.

Important notes:

Image folders may be nested inside additional folders.

This is common for large schools.

The INDEX file must remain separate from the image folders.

Do not rename portrait image files.
Each filename must remain unique and must match what is listed in the INDEX file.

📄 Understanding the INDEX.TXT File

The INDEX.TXT file is required. It contains the data records used to match each portrait image with student information during import.

Each row in this file represents a person, and one column in that row references the exact image filename.

The portrait filenames listed in INDEX.TXT must exactly match the filenames in the image folder.

📊 Viewing the File in Excel (Recommended)

Opening INDEX.TXT in Notepad can be difficult to read. Instead:

Open the file using Microsoft Excel.

If prompted about a Delimited file, choose to keep it delimited.

Delimited formatting means values are separated by tabs or commas. These separators allow Creator Studio to correctly recognize each data field.

Once opened in Excel, each field will appear in its own column, making it easier to review and edit.

✏️ Editing the INDEX File

The column order determines where information is placed when imported. If data appears in the wrong fields (for example, last names appearing in grade fields), the column order likely needs adjustment.

Your columns should appear in this order:

• (A) Volume Name
• (B) Image Folder
• (C) Image File Name
• (D) Grade
• (E) Last Name
• (F) First Name
• (G) Teacher Name
• (H) Homeroom
• (I) Email Address
• (J) Custom Info1
• (K) Custom Info 2
• (L) Custom Info 3
• (M) Priority

📌 Column Guidelines

Volume Name — Can be any name (Usually School or photo session name)

Image Folder — Must exactly match folder name containing portraits

Image File Name — Must match portrait filenames exactly

Grade — Example: 4

Last Name — Example: Smith or Jones Jr.

First Name — Example: Andrea

Homeroom — Example: AA

Period — Example: 6

Teacher Name — Example: Ms. Lee

Custom Info 1 — Up to 100 characters. Commonly used for titles, roles, or short labels (for example: Class President, Honor Roll, Team Captain).

Custom Info 2 — Up to 200 characters. Typically used for short bios or descriptive lines (for example: activities, achievements, interests).

Custom Info 3 — Up to 300 characters. Designed for longer text such as extended bios, graduation messages, quotes, Bible verses, or personal statements.

Priority — Used to control placement order when organizing portraits. Accepts values such as A, B, C or numeric rankings like 1, 2, 3.

⚠️ Important

You do not have to fill every column with data.
However, you must keep empty columns in place if no data is available for that field.

💾 Saving Your File

When finished editing:

• Save the file as .TXT format
• Do not save as .xlsx, .doc, or other formats

Only standard text files can be imported properly.

🔗 Additional Resources

For full official formatting specifications, refer to the SPOA PSPA guidelines document.