Draft State allows content in Discussions to exist in an unpublished (draft) state. Unpublished content is invisible to students, and graded discussions are excluded from grade calculations.

Note: If you use Modules in your course and add a Discussion to a Module, please be aware that the state of the Module overrides the state of all module items. You may want to consider leaving Discussions unpublished until you are ready to publish the entire Module. For more information please see the Modules Draft State lesson.

When creating or editing a graded discussion, you can assign a graded discussion to a specific student. Availability date functionality is still available for each graded discussion.

Only the student(s) specified in the discussion details can view the graded discussion.

When using differentiated assignments with the Gradebook, the graded discussion appears as a column for all students, but grade cells are grayed out for students who have not been included in the discussion. Grades cannot be assigned for students who have not been included in the graded discussion, and graded discussions that are not assigned to a student are not factored into overall grades.

When Multiple Grading Periods are enabled in a course, assignments are also respected against closed grading periods.

Note: If your course is using MasteryPaths, you do not have to manually assign graded discussions to individual students. Learn how to assign assignments to MasteryPaths.

You can easily reply to any discussion, threaded or focused. However, the reply process varies depending on the type of discussion.

You can attach a file to a Discussion reply using the attachment icon. Attached files are also uploaded to your Personal Files in the unfiled folder.

Notes:

• You can only upload one attachment in your reply. Once an attachment is posted to a discussion post, the attachment cannot be deleted.
• Instructors have the option to not allow students to attach files to Discussions. If you cannot attach a file, this feature has been disabled.

You can create a graded discussion for a course group by using the Group Discussion checkbox. Canvas uses group sets to assign group discussions, and each group within the group set that is assigned to the discussion is required to complete the discussion.

You will need to assign a group set as part of the discussion. You can add an existing group set, or you can create a new group set as part of the assignment and add students to groups later. However, if you create a group set with self sign-up or manual group assignments, you will not be able to use the group set until users have been added to the subgroups.

When differentiating groups in graded discussions, students can only view the discussion if they are a member of an assigned group. Otherwise the discussion does not appear in the group's discussions page. Grades cannot be assigned for students who have not been included in the graded discussion, and graded discussions that are not assigned to a student are not factored into overall grades. 

You can still view the links to all groups that are in the group set (as with any other group discussion). However, if you do not select a group in the differentiated assignments list, the group does not show a differentiated due date.

When Multiple Grading Periods are enabled in a course, graded discussions are also respected against closed grading periods.