I run my circles on Excel — what should I use instead?
Excel is fine for one small circle but breaks at the first expansion: no per-teacher permissions, no automatic parent reports, and one bad save loses a month of records. The alternative is a purpose-built system like Maarij, where each teacher signs in, attendance and memorization are logged from a phone, and reports build themselves without formulas.
How to move without losing your data
List what you actually use
Write down the columns you really rely on: student, circle, teacher, attendance, surahs memorized, revision. A purpose-built system covers most of them out of the box.
Clean the file first
Standardize name and phone formats, and delete blank and duplicate rows. A migration copies your mess across with it.
Build the structure first
Register the association, then add circles and teachers before students — a student needs an existing circle and teacher to attach to.
Import one circle as a test
Add a single circle's students first and confirm attendance and recitation logging work before moving everyone else.
Run both for one week
Have teachers log in the system and the spreadsheet in parallel for a week. Once the numbers agree, close the file for good.
Keep the old file as an archive
Don't delete it — keep it as a read-only record of previous years, but stop editing it so you never have two conflicting sources.
Signs Excel has stopped being enough
- More than one teacher needs to edit the file at the same time.
- You spend over an hour a month building a report that should build itself.
- A parent asks how their child is doing and you have no ready answer.
- You lost last week's attendance because someone typed over a cell.
- You passed 25 students and now scroll sideways to read one column.
Common questions
Can I move my Excel data into Maarij?
Yes. Prepare your file with clear columns for student name, circle, teacher, and parent phone number, then create the circles and teachers in Maarij before adding students. Start with one circle as a test before moving the rest.
How long does moving off Excel take?
Setting up the system takes about 90 seconds: register the association and add circles, teachers, and students. The longer part is cleaning your old file, which depends on how many students you have and how tidy the data is.
Will I lose my old records?
No. Keep the spreadsheet as a read-only archive of previous years and start fresh logging in the system. The one rule is to stop editing both, so you never end up with two conflicting sources of truth.
Circle management guides
Try Maarij on a single circle
Free forever up to 25 students — no card required.