Assignment Submission Types in Canvas

Canvas lets you decide the way you want students to submit their assignments. You specify the submission type in the Submission Type box when you create the assignment. Assignment settings always remember and display the settings created or edited in the previous assignment in the course.

No Submission

Choose No Submission when you do not want students to submit an assignment in Canvas. You can use this assignment type to create extra columns in the Gradebook, or when you want to create an assignment that involves multiple scores.

Canvas no submission option.

Note: No Submission and On Paper assignments still appear to students on their Assignments page. To avoid confusion, it is best to make a note in the assignment description so students will know whether or not a submission is required and if so, how they are supposed to submit it.  

Online

Choose Online when you want students to submit their assignments in Canvas. When you use the online submission type, you can specify online entry options.

Canvas online submission types

Text Entry: Students can submit their assignment directly in the Rich Content Editor Open External Link .

Website URLs: Students can submit a URL that fulfills the assignment.

Media Recordings: Students can submit an audio or video recording that fulfills the assignment. They can either record new media or upload existing media.

File Uploads: Students can upload a file to fulfill the assignment. Note that if your institution has enabled Google Docs as a submission type, students can connect to Google Docs Open External Link  as a web service to submit an assignment as a Google Doc, Google Sheet, or Google Slide. However, these files will convert to their Microsoft counterpart file type—Word, Excel, and PowerPoint, respectively.

 

If you want to only allow certain types of files for assignment submissions, click the Restrict Upload File Types check box and manually enter a list of accepted extensions in the Allowed File Extensions box. In the case of an odd or unusual file type, try adding it to your course to confirm the file is accepted before requesting students to submit the file type.

Note: In SpeedGrader, please be aware that only the File Upload option can convert submissions for Crocodoc annotations Open External Link . However, only .doc/.docx, ppt/.pptx, and .pdf files are currently supported.

On Paper

Select On Paper when you want students to submit an assignment to you but not through Canvas. When you choose this assignment type, Canvas creates a column in the Gradebook for grading purposes. However, you must enter the grades manually.

Canvas on paper option.

Note: No Submission and On Paper assignments still appear to students on their Assignments page. To avoid confusion, it is best to make a note in the assignment description so students will know whether or not a submission is required and if so, how they are supposed to submit it.  

External Tool

Choose External Tool when you want students to submit their assignments using an external app (LTI) enabled for your course. You must enter a URL for the external tool.

Canvas external tool option.