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Supported Browsers

Instructure products support the current and previous major releases of the following browsers:

• Chrome  
• Firefox   ( Extended Releases  are not supported*)
• Edge  
• Safari 

To find out more about Instructure's computer and browser requirements, see the following Canvas Guide :

• What are the browser and computer requirements for Instructure products?

You can verify that the browser you are currently using is up to date by using the browser checker tool in the step below.

Getting Started with Canvas Assignments

• Last modification date Updated On June 8, 2023
• Categories: Assignments , Canvas , Uncategorized
• Categories: assessment , Getting Started , Grading

Canvas  Assignments  are a way for instructors to provide students opportunities to practice using the knowledge and skills they have gained or to assess student performance related to such knowledge and skills. (Creating an Assignment is the  only  way to create a new column in the Gradebook.)

In Canvas there are four basic  Submission Types  for assignments. The submission types include:

• No Submission : For assignments for which you are not collecting any content from the students.
• Text Entry : For students to enter text directly into a text box on Canvas.
• Website URL : For students to enter a URL (usually to a blog, video, podcast, etc.).
• Media Recordings : For students to upload or record media for submission.
• File Uploads : For students to upload files for submission ( Restrict Upload File Types  will allow you to limit which types of files may be submitted).
• On Paper : For assignments students will submit in person.
• External Tool : For assignments which students will submit through a third-party tool (such as Turnitin, Panopto Video Quiz, and PlayPosit).

Managing an Assignment

Managing assignment groups.

When getting started with Assignments, learn to

• Create an assignment shell with the Canvas guide  How do I create an assignment? 

If you select  Peer Reviews Appear Anonymously , annotation tools in  SpeedGrader  will become unavailable.

If you change the  Assign To  area from  Everyone  to select students after submissions have already begun, and do not have a second set of Assign To dates, submissions from unassigned students will disappear.

• Published assignments are visible as existing outside of availability dates, but students cannot see the details.
• If looking to update the due and/or availability dates on multiple assignments, see   How do I bulk update due dates and availability dates as an instructor?
• If choosing the option to make an assignment a  Group Assignment : If only assigning to specific groups, make sure to click the  X  on the  Everyone Else  choice under  Assign to .

Media Recording  Assignments are not recommended due to technical reasons. Instead, have students submit media by embedding it in a  Text Entry  assignment through Panopto .

Clearly express expectations and criteria for grading by using a  Rubric .

Be cautious limiting submission attempts, as students often make mistakes loading documents and need multiple attempts to ensure you have the correct submission.

• Delete an assignment with the Canvas guide  How do I delete an assignment?
• This duplication process will not work for Quizzes.
• Attach a rubric to an assignment for grading or to communicate expectations to students with the Canvas guide  How do I add a rubric to an assignment?

Accessibility Tips

• Use descriptive text for links, instead of long URLs or ‘click here’. 
• Make instructions brief and to-the-point. Avoid long paragraphs and sentences.
• Consider allowing multiple submission types to accommodate technical limitations students may face.

Assignment Groups  are a way to categorize different graded items in Canvas. For example, you may have journals, blogs, and essays which your students create in your course. Assignment Groups allow you to label and group different types of assignments separately in order to better organize and for ease when applying weighting (see  How do I weight the final course grade based on assignment groups? ). When getting started with Assignment Groups, learn to

• Add and delete assignment groups with the Canvas guide  How do I add an assignment group in a course?
• Move or reorder an assignment group with the Canvas guide  How do I move or reorder an assignment group?
• Make rules governing grading expectations within assignment groups with the Canvas guide  How do I create rules for an assignment group?

Additional Resources

• CTI Resource: What is the Assignments Index Page?
• How do I bulk update due dates and availability dates as an instructor?
• How do I weight the final course grade based on assignment groups?
• Canvas Student Guide

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Canvas at Penn

Penn's Source for Courseware Innovation & News

Known Issues in Canvas

This page includes ongoing issues that have been reported to the Penn community. For a full list of all known Canvas issues, visit Canvas Community Known Issues . Click on a link to view Canvas known issues:

Browser Issues

Notifications, announcements, and emails, grading and quizzes, managing files, general issues, mime type issue in firefox.

There is Firefox-specific bug that can affect mime types for files. Older versions of Firefox can sometimes produce a mime-type error when uploading files to a website. When this happens for files uploaded to Canvas, the file does not render correctly in the Canvas previewer because the browser interprets it as another file type; consequently, users either see  a string of code in the previewer or do not see the magnifying-glass icon for previewing the file at all. Fortunately, this bug does not affect users’ ability to download files, just the ability to preview them, so anyone with access to a file in a Canvas site can download it by clicking on the file link even when the file preview is not working.

To fix this issue, you can do the following:

1. Check to see that you are using a supported browser version. Whether you are using Firefox or another type of browser, please note that you should always use a version of a browser that Canvas supports to avoid issues affecting older versions. Please consult this list to see the browser versions Canvas currently supports .  

If you are already using a supported browser version, please clear your browser’s cache. Here are instructions for how to clear a cache on a PC .

And here are instructions for how to clear a cache on a Mac .

Then, please close the browser.

2. Open the browser and log into Canvas at canvas.upenn.edu with your PennKey username and password. Then, drag your mouse over the Courses tab and select the course containing the affected file.

3. Click on Files and then delete the file presenting issue by following these instructions .

4. Upload the file again by following these instructions.

After you save the changes, please check to see if the file previews correctly. If it does not, please email us at [email protected] so we can investigate further.

Lost SpeedGrader Comments in Firefox

We have learned about a new Firefox bug affecting SpeedGrader. When a Teacher, TA, or Grader uses the margin commenting feature for annotations in SpeedGrader with Firefox, they must click outside of the comment bubble on another area of the document in order for the comment to be saved. This has led to several cases where final comments are not being saved when the user navigates to the next student submission.

We recommend the following workaround for this issue:

• Use a supported version of Google Chrome or Safari instead of Firefox.
• If you must use Firefox with SpeedGrader, make sure to click out of the comment bubble onto another area of the screen when adding your final comment on a paper to ensure that it is being saved before navigating to the next student submission.

Also, please note that if you leave SpeedGrader open for a submission for a long time, you can also lose comments, even when working in supported browsers.

Browser Extensions and Third-Party Tools

There have been several issues in recent months that were remedied by turning off all browser extensions and by checking if any Third Party tools were running.

Regardless of browser, please turn off any extensions you may be using if you are having difficulties accessing Canvas or Canvas-integrated tools.

No Email Notifications for Courses in Future Terms, Just Push Notifications

Users do not receive email notifications for actions taken in courses in future terms. For example, if you are a student in a course that is set up in Canvas for Fall 2022, and it is currently Summer 2022, you will not receive email notifications if your instructor takes an action (e.g., creates an assignment). This issue occurs even for courses that are currently active but are technically associated with a future term (e.g., a Fall 2022 course that actually starts in Summer 2022). Users do receive push notifications for these type of actions, however. To learn more about push notifications, please see “Set Push Notifications” on this page ( instructor information and student information ).

Not Receiving Email Notifications? You Might Need to Confirm Your Email Address

Users who have not confirmed their email addresses in Canvas do not receive email notifications. If you notice that you are not receiving email notifications, please check to see if your email address is confirmed by clicking on  Account > Settings  in the upper left corner of Canvas.

Announcements Index in Course Navigation Menu Intermittently Stays Hidden When an Announcement is Added

Sometimes, the announcements tab in the course navigation menu may intermittently stay hidden after the first announcement is added to the course rather than becoming visible as expected. Updating the course settings in any way should cause the Announcements tab to become visible.

Timeout Issues in SpeedGrader

SpeedGrader has a session timeout of 10 hours. Canvas will display a session expiration warning at 9 hours 50 minutes, followed by a 5-minute and 1-minute warning until the 10-hour limit has been reached.

You can restart a DocViewer session at any time by refreshing the submission page.

Grading History Not Displaying All Grade Changes

The Canvas grading history for a student’s assignment grade only shows the two most recent grade changes in the last 24-hour period. Any additional changes made in this period are not saved.

No Quiz Statistics for Classic Quizzes with More than 100 Questions or 1,000 Attempts

Quiz statistics aren’t available for Classic Quizzes with more than 100 questions or 1,000 attempts (i.e., more than 1,000 quiz submissions from students for a single quiz). When you click on the Quiz Statistics link for a quiz that exceeds these maximum values for questions or attempts, the following message appears:

Please consult the “Canvas Quiz Item Analysis” document for more information on the benefits and limitations of Canvas quiz statistics.

Item analysis may not generate results within specific quizzes. Here are a few limitations to consider within analysis reports.

• Currently, analysis is designed to work with quizzes that deliver the same questions to all students. Therefore, if you generate the item analysis CSV for quizzes that pull from a question group, the CSV will generate a line representing each version of the quiz.
• The Quiz Item Analysis report currently only supports Multiple Choice and True/False quiz questions.
• If a quiz allows multiple attempts, the calculations will only consider the student’s first attempt (to rule out practice effects).
• Questions that are left blank or not answered count as wrong when determining the total score for the exam, but they are excluded from question-level calculations.
• Statistics only include data for students who attempted to take the quiz.

As a workaround, you can view quiz statistics by downloading the CSV files in the Student Analysis and Item Analysis links. You can then upload the file to Excel, Google Sheets, or another spreadsheet and view the data in a much more user-friendly format.

Gradebook-Export Name-Sorting Issue

When you export the Canvas gradebook,  sort the export by any column other than the “Student” column (for example: the “Final Score” column), and the re-sort the export by the “Student” column, the second sort re-orders the rows alphabetically by students’ first names instead of by their last names. When a gradebook is exported, the file is sorted alphabetically by last name, so a re-sort of the “Student” column after another column has been sorted does not restore the file to the original sorting order. Our vendor is currently working on a solution for this issue. An update will be posted to this “Known Issues” entry when a solution has been implemented.

Post Final Grades for Muted Moderated Assignments before Unmuting

If a moderated assignment has been unmuted before a moderator posts final grades for the assignment, Canvas generates a notification that the assignment has been unmuted, but the grades and feedback on the assignment are still unavailable to students because the final grades have not be posted. For this reason, it is recommended that final grades for muted moderated assignments be posted before they are unmuted so that the notifications students receive about the assignment being unmuted will accurately reflect the availability of the assignment’s grades and feedback.

“Export Failure” for Duplicate File Names

When a Canvas site contains files with the same name, an “export failure” occurs for course content exports . To fix this issue, a Teacher, TA, or Designer will need to delete duplicate files , or, for different files with the same name, they will need to rename all files except one.

Downloading .csv Files From Canvas

Safari users will need to change a privacy setting in their web browser to download a .csv file from Canvas. If the setting is not changed, the default format, after downloading, will be .txt.

To correct this, in Safari’s Preferences:

• Choose Privacy
• Website tracking
• Uncheck “Prevent cross-site tracking”

Video Comment in Peer Review Marked “Incomplete”

Video comments submitted for a peer review are marked “incomplete” if they don’t have accompanying text. To avoid this issue, students should add text to their video-comment submission for peer reviews (e.g., “This is my submission”).

“Session Expired” Message When Viewing a Public Canvas Site

A “session expired” message and a log-in prompt appear after several minutes of viewing the public version of a Canvas site either for users whose login data has been saved in Canvas from a prior session or for users who are logged into Canvas in another browser window.

There are two possible solutions for this issue:

1. Log out of Canvas and clear your browser’s cache before accessing the public version of a Canvas site. Here are instructions for how to clear your browser’s cache:

Clearing your cache on a PC

Clearing your cache on a Mac

2. Use Google Chrome’s “Incognito” mode if you want to remain logged into Canvas while viewing the public version of a Canvas site ( more information on Google Chrome’s “Incognito” mode ).

Since this issue only affects users who have access to a Canvas instance, anyone outside the University of Pennsylvania who is not associated with a Canvas instance should not experience this issue. If a public version of a Canvas site is accessed by someone at another institution that has a Canvas instance, they should follow either of the above suggestions to avoid seeing the time-out message and log-in prompt.

50-User Limit for Collaborations

A maximum of 50 users can be added to a Collaborations Google Doc in Canvas. If there are more than 50 users enrolled in the course site, the Collaborations tool will display only the first 50 users alphabetically.

Hanging Indentations in DocViewer

There is an extra carriage return to the formatting for hanging indentations for documents displayed in the DocViewer that use unsupported fonts. This misformatting only affects how a document displays in the DocViwer and does not affect the file itself; when downloaded, the file displays the correct formatting. Our vendor is working on a fix for this issue, and an update will be posted to this “Known Issues” entry when it is resolved.

Limited Functionality in SpeedGrader’s DocViewer

As of April 2023, users have reported the need to download .pdf or .docx submissions to view or annotate student work, and some have reported the inability to select text using the “Selector” tool as if to copy/paste.

To fix this issue, update your browser to the latest version and clear your browser’s cache. If using Safari, make sure to update Safari to the latest version first then, if the issue persists, uncheck “prevent cross-site tracking” in Safari’s Preferences under “Privacy.”

For the issue specific to the inability to use the “Selector” tool for copy/paste purposes, consider downloading each student’s submission from SpeedGrader and copy/pasting from Office 365 or Word.

Points Display for Ungraded Surveys in Modules

Users have reported experiencing an intermittent issue affecting ungraded surveys added to modules. When this issue occurs, a point-value (e.g., “1 pts”) displays in the module listing for an ungraded survey that has been added to a module. Our vendor has confirmed that this issue only affects how ungraded surveys display in modules and has verified that ungraded surveys that this issue affects do not count toward the total course grade. Our vendor’s engineers are working on a resolution for this issue, and an update will be posted to this “Known Issues” entry when the issue is resolved.

Some Special Characters Count as Words in the Rich Content Editor

These symbols each count as a word in Canvas’s Rich Content Editor :

`  ~ $ ^ = + > <

If you are an instructor or TA, it is recommended that you take this restriction into consideration if you are asking students to follow a word-count limit. If students will need to use these symbols, please factor the approximately number of instances a student might need to use these symbols for the following types of activities:

• Text-entry assignment submissions
• Discussion posts
• Essay questions for Canvas quizzes
• Pages that students can edit

If you are a student, please take this restriction into consideration if you have been given a word-count limit for:

Last Updated: 7 Apr 2023

Canvas Embedded Content Not Displaying?

by Cecilia Lo | Jan 30, 2020 | Canvas , Canvas Features/Functions

Have you noticed that certain embedded content or links within Canvas and other websites have stopped working recently? This might be because major browsers such as Google’s Chrome and Mozilla’s Firefox have begun adopting a secure-by-default model for browser cookies settings as part of an ongoing effort to improve privacy and security across the web.*

*The same issue has been observed in some versions of Apple’s Safari browser, but this is due to a bug in Safari itself.

What are the upcoming browser cookies settings changes?

On February 3, 2020 , Chrome plans to enforce a new cookies model to provide protection against network attacks in v.80 of the browser. Under this new model, HTTP cookies must either 1) originate from and be used only for the website domain in the user’s address bar, or 2) be marked as accessible via a secure communication channel if they were to be used for a website domain different from the one in the user’s address bar.  This model also requires web developers to properly attribute which kind of cookies they are using. Other browsers have announced plans to adopt the same approach as Chrome, although the timeline for their changes has not been made public.

How does this affect me?

The changes in default cookies settings may affect any webpage that uses third-party content. Examples of third-party content include embedding a Panopto video on a Canvas Page, the Box course navigation link added via Canvas integration, and possibly other integrated external tools such as publisher content.  This content will be blocked from being displayed if the cookies are not appropriately configured.

Example of Panopto video as embedded third-party content on a Canvas page.

How do I know if I am affected?

You are affected if the content you expected to see is not displayed, if you see an error message in lieu of expected content from an external tool, or if you are prompted repeatedly to log in even though you have provided the correct username and password.

Example of third-party content (Box) not displaying correctly in Canvas when secure-by-default browser cookies settings are in place.

What can I do about it?

As a content consumer , you have two options to view the content:

Look for a link in the error message that enables you to view the content in a new window.

• Use a different browser . Some vendors do not provide an error message or authentication fails repeatedly. If you are using one of these tools, and you don’t have an easy way to open the content in a new browser window, then your only option is to use a different browser. At the time of writing, Firefox has not enforced the secure-by-default model for browser cookies settings.

As a content creator, provide an option to view third-party content. In a Canvas course site, instructors and TAs can select the “Load in a new tab” option when they add External URLs or External Tools to a Module, or when adding an External Tool Assignment. We strongly recommend this approach to reduce the amount of troubleshooting and student questions, especially given that other browsers have announced plans to adopt the same approach as Chrome.

Select the Load in a new tab option when adding External URLs or External Tools to Canvas Modules.

Select the Load This Tool In A New Tab option in External Tool Canvas Assignments.

Known problems and suggested solutions

ATS has tested the integrated learning tools connected to Canvas available to all courses. As of January 30, 2020, ATS has found that the following vendors still need to update their tools in order for their content to display correctly when secure-by-default browser cookie settings are in place:

• For an explanation of HTTP cookies, see: “ What Are Cookies? ” by Norton by Symantec, and “ HTTP cookie ” in Wikipedia.
• For an explanation of how cookies work across different websites, see: SameSite cookies explained by Rowan Merewood.
• Details of the change in Chrome v80, to be implemented on February 3, 2020, can be found on https://blog.chromium.org/2019/10/developers-get-ready-for-new.html

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Tips for time management in college

Julie holkovic shares her advice for managing time as a busy college student.

One challenge that many students face when transitioning to a college schedule and course load is how to manage their time.  This is especially important in engineering since students, aside from after their first year, do not get summers off due to the co-op schedule.

University of Cincinnati civil engineering student Julie Holkovic provides helpful time management tips that she has learned through her five years at the College of Engineering and Applied Science.

Julie Holkovic

Civil Engineering

[email protected]

University of Cincinnati civil engineering student, College of Engineering and Applied Science Ambassador, and member of Chi Omega sorority.

Time management is something that is so critical as an engineering student with the course load because it is necessary to have free time to unwind. Through my time at UC, I have been able to keep great grades while also being on the executive board of a sorority, being involved in a student organization and spending lots of time with friends. 

Stay organized

Julie Holkovic was an executive board member of her sorority, a CEAS ambassador, and more during her time at UC. Photo/provided

The biggest piece of advice I have for time management is to keep track of everything in one place. Personally, I use my iPhone calendar for this, but Google calendar or different calendar apps are another option. I also utilize the Canvas to-do list on the mobile app. This feature lays out class assignments in chronological order by due date. This makes it easy to prioritize assignments and decide where to start when I sit down to do homework. 

Along with keeping everything organized in a calendar, I also set aside a block of time for homework at least twice a week and find it very helpful. For me, I always do homework on Sundays and another day throughout the week depending on my schedule each semester. When I get overwhelmed, it is much easier to take homework one step at a time, beginning with what is due the soonest and going from there. 

Having time to yourself is important. Keeping a calendar is helpful to give yourself more free time because it allows you to plan out your weeks in advance so you know when you need to set aside homework time. I also find it helpful to do assignments whenever I have a bit of free time because it allows me to keep my homework load at a minimum. 

Utilize organizational tools

The biggest improvement in my time management recently has been getting an iPad. The reason this helped me is because everything I need for my classes is in one place. For instance, I take notes on my iPad, do homework on my iPad, and store class files on my iPad. Having everything in one place like this makes both homework and studying easier because it is all together and ensures I will not lose anything. 

If you have an iPad, I love the note-taking app, Notability. If you do not have an iPad, that is no big deal. The main thing is to keep your assignments and schedule organized so you know where everything is and you can access it easily. How you choose to do that (whether it be an iPad, Google Calendar, a written planner) does not matter. 

Go to class

My final piece of advice is to always go to class. If you skip class, it will take you so much longer to try to teach yourself what you missed instead of learning from your professors. If you spend one hour in class learning the material, it will save you time in the long run. Odds are, it will take you much longer to try and teach it to yourself. The most important aspects of time management improvement are organization, writing down a schedule, and keeping track of your homework. I wish you all the best of luck and go Bearcats!

Featured image at top: UC student Julie Holkovic talks about the importance of time management as a student. Photo/Pixabay

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One challenge many students face when transitioning to a college schedule and course load is how to manage their time. This is especially important in engineering since students, aside from their first year, do not get summers off due to the co-op schedule. University of Cincinnati civil engineering student Julie Holkovic provides helpful time management tips that she has learned through her five years in the College of Engineering and Applied Science.

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