Canvas Gradebook

The Gradebook helps instructors easily view and enter grades for students. It provides a robust tool for tasks typically done on a spreadsheet application, making it possible to quickly distribute grades to students, flag late and missing assignments automatically, and calculate course grades.

Only graded assignments, graded discussions, graded quizzes, and graded surveys that have been published display in the Gradebook. Not Graded assignments are not included.

Default Gradebook View

The default view in the Gradebook allows you to view all students at one time. To access the Gradebook, click on the Grades link in the course menu.

The Gradebook includes global sorting options and settings you can use to organize your gradebook [1], student data [2], and assignment data [3]. The Gradebook also supports keyboard shortcuts. To view the Keyboard Shortcuts menu, click the Keyboard icon [4] or press Shift+Question Mark keys simultaneously.

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Gradebook Menu

The Traditional Gradebook allows you to see all students, assignments, and grades. In the Gradebook menu, you also switch between several options as available:

1. Learning Mastery Gradebook displays which outcome standard is being used in Canvas courses. This gradebook is a course-level feature option.

2. Individual Gradebook allows you to assess one student and one assignment at a time and is fully accessible for screen readers. Individual View does not currently support settings and options from the Gradebook.

3. Gradebook History logs the most recent grade changes in the course according to student, grader, assignment, and date.

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Search Students

By default, the Gradebook shows all active students. To search for students by name or ID, enter your search query in the Search Students field. The Gradebook automatically filters results as you type.

The Search Students field allows multiple student names to be filtered at the same time.

The Search Students field also respects Concluded and Inactive Enrollment options. If the Concluded Enrollment or Inactive Enrollment options are selected as filters, no Concluded or Inactive enrollments display in the Gradebook.

Search Assignments

By default, the Gradebook shows all assignments. To search for assignments, enter an assignment name in the Search Assignments field. The Gradebook automatically filters results as you type.

The Search Assignments field allows multiple assignment names to be filtered at the same time.

Selecting an assignment displays the assignment in a column closest to the student name. If multiple assignments are selected, the assignment columns display in the reverse order they are selected.

Gradebook Settings

The Gradebook Settings (gear icon in the upper right-hand corner) allow you to apply Late Policies, a Grade Posting Policy, a Final Grade Override, and View Options in your course gradebook.

Late Policies

The Late Policies tab allows you to apply late policies in your course.

1. The Missing Submission policy allows you to automatically apply a grade for submissions labeled as Missing. A submission is labeled Missing when the due date has passed and the assignment has not been submitted.

2. The Late Submission policy allows you to automatically apply a defined penalty to submissions with a status of Late. A submission is labeled Late when it is submitted past the due date. Additionally, you can define a threshold under which a student will not be scored, regardless of how late the submission is when submitted.

Grade Posting Policy

The Grade Posting Policy tab allows you to change grade posting policies for your course.

1. To automatically post grades and make them visible to students as soon as they are entered, select the Automatically Post Grades option. The posting policy is set to Automatically Post Grades by default.

2. To hide grades by default and manually choose when to post grades and make them visible to students, select the Manually Post Grades option.

Advanced Settings

The Advanced tab allows you to apply a Final Grade Override in your course. If enabled, you can enter an override grade for a student that is different from the grade automatically calculated by Canvas.

Gradebook View Options

The View Options tab allows you to filter and sort the Gradebook according to several viewing options:

1. Arrange By: Arrange columns by default, assignment name, due date, points, or module.

2. Show: Show or hide the notes column, the unpublished assignments column, the split student names column, hide assignment group totals, and hide total and override columns.

3. View Ungraded as Zero: Temporarily change the Gradebook view so that grades display as if all ungraded assignments were given a score of zero. This setting is a visual change only and does not affect grades for students or other users of the Gradebook.

4. Status Color: View and change the color for a grading status (late, missing, resubmitted, dropped, and excused).

Gradebook Filters

Filters are available in the Gradebook that allow you to use preset filters or create custom ones that can be saved or used one time.

The Enhanced filters menu is accessed by clicking on the Apply Filters button located in the upper left of the Gradebook dashboard. There are seven preset filters available:

• Sections: section titles are displayed alphabetically. 

• Modules: select from the modules created in the course. 

• Assignment Groups: select from the assignment groups created in the course. 

• Status: select from the assignment status categories. 

• Submission: select to see assignments that have ungraded submissions or only submissions. 

• Start Date: show only assignments that have a due date at or beyond the start date selected. 

• End Date: show only assignments that have a due date at or before the end date selected. 

When a filter option is selected, the filter displays at the top of the Gradebook. Multiple filters can be used at the same time. Filter options will apply to either Gradebook rows or columns.

Import and Export Options

To bulk manage student grades in the Gradebook, by:

1. Importing grades 

2. Exporting grades 

Student Name Column

The Student Name column displays each student's name and may also include a student's secondary ID, if enabled. You can hover over the column header and view the Student Name menu, which allows the following options:

• Sort and display student data

• Show inactive and concluded enrollments

To view a student's Grades page, click the student's name.

View Test Student

If you have enabled Student View in Course Settings, the Test Student is shown at the end of the Gradebook and is automatically added to every section in your course. Test Student data does not factor into course analytics.

If you want to remove the test student completely, you must remove the test student from your section enrollments in Course Settings.

Assignment Column

Each column in the Gradebook represents a published assignment in the Assignments page. Each column displays the assignment title, total points, and each student's grade.

1. To view the assignment, click the name of the assignment.

2. To view the Assignment menu, hover over the column header, which allows the following options:

   • Sort assignments by grade or status (missing or late)

   • Message students who fit within specific assignment criteria

   • Curve grades

   • Set default grade

   • Hide or post grades for the assignment

   • Enter grades as a specific value: point, percentage, or grading scheme (this option is only for grading convenience and does not affect the actual grade; not available for complete/incomplete assignment types)

   • Download submissions and re-upload submissions (supported in file uploads only)

Icons and colors represent assignments and submission statuses within Canvas, including differentiated assignments, grading periods, and MasteryPaths.

Add Columns

Assignment columns are automatically added every time you create and publish assignments, graded discussions, and graded quizzes and surveys. A column is also automatically added for the Attendance tool.

You can manually add a column as part of importing grades to the Gradebook. However, assignments imported in the CSV file are automatically published.

If you need to create a column in the Gradebook to use for manual grading, you can create a No Submission or On Paper assignment.

Enter Grades

When entering grades, the Gradebook displays crosshairs and highlighting across the row and column for improved orientation.

1. To enter grades, type the grade as supported by assignment type directly in the Gradebook cell.

2. You can also enter grades and change the submission status by clicking the Grade Detail Tray icon.

Grade Detail Tray

The Grade Detail Tray allows you to:

1. Enter or edit grades

2. Change the status of a submission

   1. Leave comments for the student
      
      

Default Grades

If you want to assign the same grade to every (or almost every) student. you use the Default Grades technique. To bulk assign a grade for an assignment:

1. Click on the 3-dot icon that appears when you hover your mouse over a column in the Gradebook.

2. Then, click and select Set Default Grade.

Assignment Groups and Total Column

The assignment groups shown in the Gradebook match the assignment groups created in the Assignments page.

If your assignment groups are weighted, the weighted grade displays below the group title. Assignment group weights are reflected in the total grade. The assignment grade earned by the students is multiplied by the assignment group weight.

Grade totals from assignment groups are calculated in the Total column of the Gradebook. You can hover over the column header to view the Total column menu, which allows you to sort by grade and move the total column to the front of the Gradebook. Additionally, if your assignment groups are not weighted, you can view the totals as a point value instead of a percentage.