Bulk learner changes are now one panel on the Learners page, which shows every change before it’s saved and leaves out only the rows that need fixing. Certificates can also show when a completion expires.
You’ll also notice a Date Added enrolment rule, search on the Instructor Led Training schedule, new trigger email options, and fixes across Leave Dates, shared reports and trigger emails. Events now re-enrol onto their existing activities when new ones haven’t been confirmed.
The new learner importer
Updating learners on Astute will be a familiar job to many, with its new starters, leavers and people who have moved teams. Until now, one blank cell anywhere in that file turned the whole upload away, and updating someone meant filling in every field, even to change one thing. The new learner importer takes in everything that’s ready and leaves out only the rows that need fixing, each with the reason in plain words.
Click Import Learners on the Learners page and add a CSV or Excel file. Once completed, you are now able to download a report that gives you a record of that and any other imports you have done.
Because empty cells leave things as they are, smaller jobs need smaller files. A leaver list needs just two columns, email and Learner Active, with N against each name, and switched-off learners keep their records and history. A restructure needs only email and department.
Managers can be fixed in bulk with a Manager email column, and typing none removes a manager altogether. The importer also catches what’s easy to miss by eye, such as someone set as their own manager or people managing each other in a circle. If switching someone off would leave their team without a line manager, it names those learners, even though they weren’t in the file.
Where a file isn’t clear, the importer asks rather than guesses, for example when it doesn’t recognise a heading or finds the same person twice. Passwords in a file now follow your organisation’s password rules too.
If you’d like a walkthrough, there’s a step-by-step guide to importing learners.
Certificates
Certificates can now show when a completion expires, with a new ReEnrolExpiry merge field. The date comes from the event’s re-enrolment period and matches the expiry date in Compliance Reporting, so the certificate and the report always agree.
New merge fields can also write pass dates out in full, as 1 October 2026, which avoids any confusion between UK and US date formats.
Enrolment events
A new Date Added rule enrols learners based on when they were added to Astute instead of requiring a learner to have been given a start date for the rule to run.
Events now re-enrol automatically onto their existing activities if new re-enrolment activities haven’t been confirmed by the renewal date, so learners aren’t left without training when an event renews. The reminder emails sent to administrators before an event renews explain this.
Trigger emails
The list of triggers is now grouped and renamed, so the one you need is easier to find, and the trigger emails you already have keep working. There are new triggers for risk assessments, for when one is completed with outstanding concerns, when a note is added to a concern and when a concern is resolved.
The Event Enrolment email can now list every activity in the event, and the course enrolment email can show how long the course takes.
Instructor Led Training
The Training Schedule now has a search box on both the list and calendar views, so you can find a class by course name, class name or trainer without scrolling, and the list view has filters. Last Completed can also be added to Instructor Led Training reports, so an expiry date can be read against the pass it comes from.
Further Chaser and Trigger email and merge field options have been added.
Departments and Job Titles
The Departments and Job Titles page now has an Export button, which downloads your structure with each department’s heads and learner count. Organisation Structure is also back on the Organisation Management page, with a button that takes you straight to the new page.
Bug fixes
- Learners are now deactivated when their Leave Date is reached.
- A shared report now shows each viewer only the learners their own permissions allow, on screen as well as in the export, and changes to the email on an existing scheduled report now save.
- An existing trigger email now always opens with its saved settings, and certificates with a fixed expiry period generate even when there is no completion date.
See everything that changed in the full October 2026 Release Notes →
Your feedback drives every update
Several of this release’s changes came directly from your suggestions, including the Date Added rule, expiry dates on certificates and search on the Instructor Led Training schedule. Thank you for helping us shape Astute. If you spot something that could be improved or want to share an idea, we would love to hear from you. Please contact your account manager or [email protected]
