Start by reading Getting Started.

Documentation is available for all tools in TRACS in "Training Documents" both online and as downloadable PDFs.

Video Tutorials are available on a variety of topics. This is a great way to learn how to use the system as you can rewind and replay the video at will.

Tips provide information on specific features and functions in TRACS. These can be downloaded as PDF documents.

FAQs address specific questions and concerns.

You can sign up for Workshops which are held throughout the semester and in the summer.

Email and phone support is available at tracs@txstate.edu and at 245-5566.

You must have an active Texas State Net ID in order to login to TRACS. Students can create or activate a Net ID by going to CatsWeb or calling the Help Desk at 245-4822.

NOTE: If you just created or reactivated your TX State Net ID and Password, you will be able to log in immediately.  However, your sites will not be available until the following morning.

Faculty and Staff, for help with a Net ID please visit Technology Resource's website

TRACS does not supply NetIDs, but here are the steps you may take to get one created for you even BEFORE your contract has been processed by Faculty Records:

1. Contact your department's Administrative Assistant.  They are the ones who request that a NetID be created for you.  They will need the following information:
   1. Contact Faculty Records at 245-2786 to request a Texas State ID number (plid).  Faculty Records needs the legal name of the faculty member from their I-9 documentation, their social security number, date of birth, and sex.
2. Faculty Records will send the ID number to the department's Administrative Assistant.
3. The Admin Assistant will then complete the ITAC "Request for New Faculty NetID" form by logging into http://www.tr.txstate.edu/itac/netid/netid-request.html
4. ITAC will send the new faculty member's Texas State NetID and initial logon password via campus E-mail.

• Windows:
  • Internet Explorer 7.0 and newer
  • Mozilla Firefox

• Macintosh:
  • Mozilla Firefox

• Other platforms:
  • Mozilla Firefox

TRACS is designed to function independently of your browser buttons. If you change your mind about a task, such as posting a syllabus or a resource item, you need to rely on the buttons within TRACS to cancel the action instead of your browser's Back button.

Please clear your internet browser's history, cookies and cache.  Once you have done this you will need to quit your browser completely and restart it. 

To watch a video on how to do this, please click here.

There is a small button that appears to the left of the name of each tool. This button, represented by a curled arrow, is called the reset button. Use the reset button to return to the starting point of any tool, as if you had entered the tool in a new session.

When you first log in to TRACS, you are in a space called “My Workspace”. This is your individual online workspace, where you can store private documents (in Resources), set preferences, create a profile, and maintain a private calendar, among other things. This is also where you create new course or project sites by using "Worksite Setup". (Note: Only instructors can set up course sites). To return here after visiting other sites, click the My Workspace tab.

You cannot delete sites in TRACS, only hide them. 

Step 1.  Log in to TRACS.  You will be in your “My Workspace”.
 
Step 2.  Click [Preferences] in the left-hand menu bar.
 
Step 3.  Click [Customize Tabs] in the upper left navigation bar (to the right of  [Notifications]).
 
Step 4.  To remove a site or sites from view, select the site(s) in the [Sites visible in Tabs] list box, and use the left arrow(s) to move the selected site(s) to the [Sites not visible in Tabs] list box.
 
Step 5.  Click [Update Preferences].

To watch a video on how to do this, click here.

Your course is available to students as soon as you publish the site. When you create the site, you have the option to Publish the site in the set site access screen. If you didn’t select publish site when you created your site, you will have to go into Site Info and click on Manage Access. Select the check box next to publish site, then click on Update. Your site is now published.

Yes. When you select the semester term and course, your student roster is automatically imported into your TRACS site.

Yes. When students add a class, they are automatically added to the roster by the registrar. However, there is a delay of about 24 hours between the time the students are added to the roster and the time the TRACS database is updated to reflect those changes. Therefore, the students will generally have to wait until the next day to gain access to the class site.

No. Students are not automatically dropped from a TRACS site when they drop the course. Students are made inactive after the 12th class day and will no longer see your site when they drop.  They will not receive any communications, emails, or any other information regarding your site. 

Yes. When you create a site in TRACS, you can select a tool called Mailing List archive. This tool provides an email address for the site. Any email sent to that address is automatically sent to every participant of the site. In addition, a copy of the email message is archived on the site. For more information on using or setting up this tool, please see the document called “Mailing List Archive”.

You may also choose to add a tool called "Mailtool".  This tool allows you to send a message to the whole class, selected students, or an individual student.

Yes.  Students are allowed to contact each other using the Mailtool.  Students can email the entire class, a group, or an individual student.  If you do not want them to email each other, yet you (the instructcor) still want to use the Mailtool, you must hide it from student view.

To hide the Mailtool from students:
1.  Log into TRACS
2.  Enter the course and click on Site Info
3.  From Site Info click on Page Order
4.  Next to the Mailtool in Page Order click on the yellow lighbulb icon.  When you click on the lightbulb you are turning off the student's ability to see the Mailtool.  Make sure the lightbulb is no longer elluminated and click the Save button.
 

The instructor will still be able to see the mailtool and use it, but students will not.

Yes. TRACS allows you to add multiple documents at a time via the TRACS resources tool. TRACS also allows users to drag and drop complete folders or multiple files at a time by using a new technology called WEBDAV. For more information on how to drag and drop files into your TRACS site, please see the help document called WEBDAV-Mac for Mac users. or WebDAV-PC for PC users.

Yes. When you create your site, you have the option to use material from other sites you own. For more information on this, please see the help document called “Create course”.

Each site (course or project) in TRACS has 10gb of space allocated to it.  You also have 10gb of space available to use in your My Worspace Resources tool.

Yes. Once you have created sections in your course, you are able to view your gradebook in sections. For more information on how to view your gradebook by sections, please see the help document called “Gradebook”.

The reason why this is happening is because of the options you chose in your Course Grade Options.  The course grade options function determines what kind of grade you want to use in the course and what percentage corresponds to the letter grade. 

The default grade type is letter grades with +/-.  This means that the minimum for an A+ is 100%, A is 95%, and A- is 90% etcetera.  When you look at the roster view in your gradebook, the Course Grade column in the gradebook roster view will round the percentage up to meet the next grade scale.  For example, if a student has a caculated average of 93% (which is available via the Course Grades feature in gradebook) the gradebook roster view will show her percentage as 95%.

Solution:
You must undo the grade override.  To do this:

1. Frist, export your course grades.  Click on Course Grades in the gradbook tool.
2. Click the Export Course Grades button
3. Save the file for your records.
4. Click on gradebook
5. Click on Course Grades
6. Delete the grade in the Grade Override Column for each student.  Leave the field BLANK.
7. Click Save at the bottom of the screen.

You must then change your course grade type to be normal letter grades.

1. Click on Course Grade Options
2. Click on the drop-down menu for grade type and select Letter Grades
3. Click Change Grade Type
4. Click Save at the bottom of the screen.

Your averages should now match everywhere in the gradebook.

The problem lies with Internet Explorer with Windows Operating Systems. To fix this problem in Internet Explorer, click your "Tools" menu item and select "Internet Options...".
Select the tab "Advanced" and scroll to the bottom of the page. Uncheck the checkbox item titled "Do not save encrypted pages to disk" and click "OK".