Canvas makes it easy to monitor student submissions and quickly spot anyone who hasn’t completed key assessments or mandatory training – such as the Health & Safety or Academic Malpractice tests. This article guides you through how to filter the Canvas Gradebook to identify students with missing or late submissions, making it easier to support course teams and keep records up to date.
Sorting the Gradebook
- In the course navigation menu, click Grades to access the Gradebook.
- Find the column for the specific assignment or quiz you wish to review – e.g., Health & Safety or Academic Malpractice.
- In the column header, click the three dots, hover your cursor over Sort by and then choose one of the following options:
- Missing to sort the column by students who haven’t submitted or completed the assessment.
- Late to sort the column by students who have submitted late.
When you rearrange columns in the Gradebook, the changes you make are specific to your personal view and don’t affect how other users see the Gradebook.
Filtering the Gradebook
- Use the Assignment Names search bar to select the specific assignment(s) you wish to review.
- In the top left, click Apply Filters.
- From the drop-down menu, click Status.
- You can filter the Gradebook view by:
- Missing to see students who haven’t submitted or completed the assessment.
- Late to see students who have submitted late.
Canvas allows you apply multiple filters at once to customise the Gradebook view.
To clear a filter, simply click the small X next to each active filter to remove it.
Contacting Students
You may wish to send them a reminder to those students who haven’t submitted, or those who’ve received a low score. Canvas makes it easy to do this directly from the Gradebook, helping you follow up promptly and keep everyone on track.
- In the Gradebook, find the column for the assessment you wish to follow up on.
- In the column header, click the three dots, then select Message students who.
- The Compose message window will appear. Use the For students who… drop-down menu to select the students you’d like to message:
- Have not yet submitted
- Scored less than
- Review the Subject field and amend it as needed.
- Type your message in the Message box.
- Click Send to message to the selected students.
Edit the recepient list (optional). By default, Canvas will automatically select all students who match the chosen filtering criterion – for example, those who haven’t submitted or who scored below a certain threshold. If you’d like to exclude specific students – for instance, if you’re already aware of a valid reason for their missed submission – you can manually remove them from the recipient list.
To do this, click Show all recipients, then click the small X next to the name of any students you don’t wish to include.