Making assignments available to students
If one or more students are unable to view or access an assignment here are a few steps you can take to ensure that everything is configured correctly.
Note: External tools have additional restrictions determined by the provider of the tool. Review with external app documentation, or contact the provider support for information on that functionality.
Confirm Existing Assignment
In Course Navigation, click the Assignments link [1]. Then verify that the assignment is listed on the Assignments page [2].
Confirm Assignment Status
Check the assignment's publish status icons. A circle with a checkmark icon indicates that the assignment is Published [1]. A circle-backslash icon indicates that the assignment is Unpublished [2]. Students can only view published assignments.
To publish an assignment, click the Unpublished icon.
Learn more about publishing assignments.
Review Assignment Details
Click the assignment name [1] and then click the Edit button [2].
To view the Assignment availability dates, navigate to the Assign Access section and click the Manage Due Dates and Assign To button.
View the assignment availability dates in the Available from/Until section.
Availability dates determine when students can view and submit an assignment. If the date is before or past the assignment availability date range, students cannot submit the assignment.
Learn more about availability dates.
Review Assign to Fields
By default, Canvas assigns new assignments to all students enrolled in your course.
If you specified a group or section in the Assign to field, you may need to verify that students are properly enrolled in a section or assigned in a group [1].
Availability dates determine when students can view and submit an assignment. If the date is before or past the assignment availability date range, students cannot submit the assignment [2].
Confirm Module Status
If you use modules in your course, in Course Navigation, click the Modules link.
Check the published and unpublished icons.
Confirm both overall module [1] and the module items [2] are marked as published. If only one of the two is published, the students will not be able to see all of the content.
To publish a module, click the module's publishing drop-down menu [1]. To bulk publish the entire module and all its items, click the Publish module and all items option [2]. To only publish the module and not the module items, click the Publish module only option [3].
Note: Bulk publishing files in a module is only available when File Copyright is enabled and usage rights are set or disabled in a course.
Learn more about publishing modules.
