Canvas Check Grades: Overview

The Check Grades button is a custom Canvas tool that helps instructors verify gradebook accuracy before submitting final grades. It compares each student's current score against their final grade calculation and flags any incomplete grading tasks — automating what would otherwise require manually exporting and reviewing a gradebook spreadsheet. This tool is a companion to the Grades Transfer to Banner process and is most useful at the end of a term when all grading is being finalized.

Where is the Check Grades button?

Open your course and select Grades from the course navigation menu. The red Check Grades button appears in the Gradebook toolbar, next to the Import button.

What does the Check Grades button do?

Clicking the button opens a confirmation pop-up with options to Cancel or Check Grades. Once confirmed, the tool scans the gradebook and checks for:

Students whose current grade doesn't match their final calculated grade.
- As a result of grades not matching, assignments that still need grading are displayed to the user.

How long does the scan take?

Scan time varies based on course size. Courses with larger enrollments or more graded assignments may take several minutes to complete.

Understanding the Results

The results window includes the following sections:

Overall Findings Banner — States whether your gradebook is complete or incomplete.
Incomplete Assignments — The title and direct link of the assignment that still needs grading.
Affected Students — Displays which students are missing grades for each listed assignment.
Export Results — Users can select this option and choose to export the results to either an Excel spreadsheet or a text file, allowing you to reference them while completing grading tasks.
Close — Closes the results window and returns you to the Gradebook.

Note: The results in the pictured example display an incomplete gradebook

Frequently Asked Questions

Which assignments are checked by the tool?

The tool scans all published assignments that are set to count toward the final grade. This includes Classic Quizzes, New Quizzes, Discussions, and standard Assignments. Assignments marked to omit from the final grade are skipped.

Which students are included in the scan?

The tool checks all active student enrollments in the course. Students in inactive, concluded, or other non-active enrollment states are not included in the scan.

What triggers a grade mismatch?

A mismatch is flagged when a student's current score and final score differ. This can happen when ungraded submissions affect the final calculation differently than the running current score — for example, when unsubmitted work is counted as zero in the final grade but excluded from the current score. Only students with a mismatch are evaluated for ungraded assignments.

What counts as "ungraded"?

A submission is considered ungraded when any of the following apply:

The submission status is submitted but no grade has been recorded.
The submission status is unsubmitted and no grade has been recorded.
The submission has no score at all.

What if I have marked assignments as excused?

Assignments marked as excused in the gradebook are not counted toward the current or final score and are skipped by this tool.

Why doesn't the tool show all ungraded assignments — only some?

The tool only reports ungraded submissions for students who already have a grade mismatch. If a student's current and final scores match, their submissions are not evaluated, even if some remain ungraded. This keeps the results focused on grading gaps that are actively affecting grade calculations.