How to set up admission number format and auto-numbering in your school's Inkwelly Settings
For school office staff and IT administrators setting up Inkwelly for the first time — and for principals switching from a manual admission register or a different ERP. By the end you will have a self-incrementing admission number format that runs every time a new child is admitted, with a live preview showing exactly what the next number will look like.
To set up admission number format and auto-numbering in Inkwelly: open Students → Settings, scroll to Admission Number Auto-Generation, toggle it on, set the prefix (e.g., ADM), pick the sequence padding (e.g., 4 → 0001), build the format using {PREFIX}, {SCHOOL}, {YEAR}, {FY}, {SEQ} placeholders, verify the live preview, and click Save Settings.
In Indian schools, the admission number is the child's permanent identifier from Class 1 right through to Class 12. CBSE and most state boards reproduce it on the Transfer Certificate, the marksheet, the report card, and the UDISE+ student record. Get the format wrong on day one and you live with the inconsistency for the next 12 years.
Inkwelly's admission-number generator removes that risk. Configure the format once — prefix, sequence padding, placeholders for school code and financial year — and Inkwelly mints a clean, unique number every time a new student is admitted. A typical CBSE day school admits 60 to 200 new students per academic year (CBSE 2024 affiliation data). Auto-numbering means the office never has to remember 'what was the last admission number'.
1. Open the Students module
From the school dashboard, click the Students card (Admissions & records). Inkwelly opens the Student Information Center — the home for all student data, admissions, classes, documents, and bulk operations. The left sidebar groups the entries under OVERVIEW, OPERATIONS, DATA, and ADMIN.
2. Open Settings
In the Students sidebar, scroll to the ADMIN group at the bottom and click Settings. Inkwelly loads the configuration page titled 'Settings — Configure how admissions, student IDs, and defaults work in this school.' First-time users see a blue First time setup callout reminding them to configure how student IDs, admission numbers, and roll numbers are generated.
3. Find the Admission Number Auto-Generation section
The page has three configuration sections: School Code, Student ID Auto-Generation, and Admission Number Auto-Generation. Scroll past the first two to find the third. The section header reads 'Automatically generate unique admission numbers during admission' and has a toggle switch on the right.
4. Toggle on auto-generation
Click the switch in the Admission Number Auto-Generation section header. The PREFIX, SEQUENCE PADDING, and FORMAT inputs become editable, the placeholder buttons activate, and a green PREVIEW pill appears at the bottom of the section. Leave the toggle off if you prefer to type each admission number manually — Inkwelly only auto-fills when this switch is on.
5. Set the prefix
In the PREFIX field, type your school's admission prefix — usually 2 to 6 characters. ADM is the Inkwelly default. Common Indian alternatives: the school short-name (DPS, KV01, AVM), city-prefixed (DELDPS), or board-prefixed (CBSE-ADM). The prefix appears at the start of every generated number. Maximum 20 characters.
6. Set the sequence padding
In the SEQUENCE PADDING field, type the digit count — usually 3, 4, or 5. The padding controls leading zeros: padding 4 means the first admission becomes 0001, the tenth becomes 0010, the hundredth becomes 0100. A 1,000-student school typically uses padding 4. A multi-school CBSE chain admitting 5,000+ students per year uses padding 5.
7. Build the format with placeholders
In the FORMAT field, compose the template using the placeholder pills below: {PREFIX} (your prefix), {SCHOOL} (your school code), {YEAR} (calendar year, e.g., 2026), {FY} (financial year, e.g., 2025-26), {SEQ} (the auto-incrementing sequence). Use - or / as separators. Default is {PREFIX}/{FY}/{SEQ} → ADM/2025-26/0001. CBSE schools commonly use {PREFIX}/{YEAR}/{SEQ} → ADM/2026/0001. UP Board schools often add the school code: {SCHOOL}/{PREFIX}/{SEQ} → AVM-BAZ/ADM/0001.
8. Verify the live preview and save
The PREVIEW pill at the bottom of the section shows exactly what the next admission number will look like — for example, ADM/2025-26/0001. Read it as if you were the parent receiving the receipt. If it looks right, click Save Settings at the bottom right. Inkwelly persists the format and applies it from the very next admission.
Now that admission numbering is configured, the office is ready to start admissions. Walk through admitting a single new student end-to-end — Inkwelly auto-fills the admission number, captures parent details, assigns the class, and opens the fee schedule, all in 90 seconds.
For schools admitting 60+ students per week during the March rush, Inkwelly's AI admission auto-fill cuts each form-fill from 6 minutes to 90 seconds — paste the parent's WhatsApp message, the AI parses 14 fields, the admission number generates automatically, and the office clicks Admit.
If you need to back-fill admission numbers for legacy records imported from your old ERP, use Inkwelly's bulk update to update existing rows.
See admission numbering live in your school's Inkwelly setup
Bring your old admission register or your previous ERP's number format. The Inkwelly onboarding team configures the format on your account during the demo, so the office is ready to admit on Monday.
Frequently asked
5 questionsWe are moving from another ERP. Can Inkwelly continue our old admission number sequence?
Yes. In Students → Settings, under Admission Number Auto-Generation, set Start next number from to the number after your last admission — for example 1843 if your old register ended at 1842. Keep the prefix and format your school already uses, check the Preview before saving, and the next admission picks up exactly where your old register stopped.
Does the admission number restart at 1 every year?
Only if you want it to. Reset numbering every year is on by default, so the sequence starts again at 1 when the year in your format changes — the calendar year for {YEAR}, or the April–March academic year for {FY}. Turn it off to keep one continuous sequence, which suits schools where the admission number stays with the child from nursery to Class 12.
Which placeholders can I use in the admission number format?
Five: {PREFIX} for your prefix such as ADM, {SCHOOL} for your school code, {YEAR} for the calendar year such as 2026, {FY} for the academic year such as 2025-26, and {SEQ} for the running number with the leading zeros set by sequence padding. For example, {PREFIX}/{FY}/{SEQ} with padding 4 gives ADM/2025-26/0001.
Can the office type an admission number by hand instead of using the auto-generated one?
Yes, by turning auto-generation off. While it is on, the New Admission form shows the next number as read-only and assigns it when the admission is saved, so nobody skips or reuses a number by mistake. With it off, the Admission Number field becomes a required box that the office fills in by hand.
What happens if two students end up with the same admission number?
Inkwelly does not allow it. Admission numbers must be unique within a school, so saving an admission with a number that already exists is rejected with a clear message. Auto-generated numbers always take the next sequence, including for students added through the student import.
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2 readsSources & references
- CBSE Bye-Laws — Chapter 5: Admission, Promotion and Examination · accessed 6 May 2026
CBSE bye-laws require schools to maintain admission records with a unique identifier per child for the duration of schooling. Admission number is the conventional identifier.
- UDISE+ Data Capture Format — Student Module · accessed 6 May 2026
UDISE+ student records reference school code and admission number for cross-school tracking and Aadhaar-linked APAAR ID minting.
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