Enrollment Manager: Overview

Important: This tool is only available in non-academic Canvas courses. It does not appear in Banner-sourced academic courses.

While the People page in Canvas is the primary location for managing enrollments, it has several limitations when it comes to handling bulk actions. Each action requires multiple clicks per individual user, and there is no built-in functionality to easily move users between sections. To address these Canvas-native pain points, the Enrollment Manager is an OTLT-built tool that allows course managers to directly manage common enrollment tasks within Canvas. Notable features include:

Bulk enrollment management—deactivate, remove, or reactivate users at once
Activity-informed decisions based on total course and section participation
Bulk enrollment via CSV upload
Bulk section moves

The tool has three tabs: Manage Enrollments, Bulk Enroll, and Move to Section.

Enable the Enrollment Manager Tool

The Enrollment Manager tool is located in the course navigation menu, but it may not be visible by default. First, check if it’s already listed there. If it’s missing, you’ll need to enable it by going to Course Settings, selecting Navigation, and moving Enrollment Manager into the active navigation area.

Need more guidance? Learn how to manage course navigation links

Manage Enrollments

This tab displays a searchable list of everyone enrolled in your course—excluding Banner-enrolled users and yourself. Filter by role or section, select one or more users, and apply an action to all of them at once. This tool is particularly useful for non-academic courses that serve a utility function, where managing participants over time and gauging their engagement can be difficult.

This tab has three modes: Remove, Deactivate, and Reactivate.

Remove: Permanently removes selected users from the course. They lose access immediately and cannot be restored through this tool—re-enrollment must be done manually. Use this when removing users based on participation or when access should no longer be granted.
Deactivate: Makes selected users inactive. They remain on the roster and their course data is preserved, but they lose access until reactivated. This is reversible. What are Inactive Students in Canvas Courses?
Reactivate: Restores access for previously deactivated users. Their enrollment record and submissions remain intact.

Steps: Manage Enrollments

Select a mode: Remove, Deactivate, or Reactivate.
Use the search box or role and section filters to locate users.
Check the box next to each user you want to act on. Use Select All to select everyone currently visible.
Review the confirmation message—it states how many users are selected and exactly what will happen to them.
Select the action button to apply.

Note: "Student, Test" accounts—created when instructors use Canvas's View as Student feature—are automatically excluded from the list, but can contribute to the total 'Enrollments' number that's displayed.

Bulk Enroll

This tab enrolls multiple users at once using a CSV file. While Canvas administrators can bulk enroll users at the account level, Canvas does not offer this at the course level. This tool fills that gap. It's particularly useful when transitioning a list of emails or usernames from Banner or an adjacent system into a course.

Users must already exist in Canvas to be enrolled.

Steps: Bulk Enroll

Download the CSV template using the link provided in the tool.
Add one UIW email address per row in column A. No header row is needed.
Select the role to assign to all users in the file.
Upload the completed CSV and submit.

After processing, the tool reports any addresses it could not match to a UIW account. All users in a single upload receive the same role. Users should run separate uploads to assign different roles.

Move to Section

This tab moves students from one section to another within the same course. On the standard People page in Canvas, this requires multiple clicks per individual user. Here, you can move many users at once.

Steps: Move to Section

Use the source section filter to narrow the list to the section you are moving students from.
Select the students to move.
Choose the destination section.
Review the confirmation message and submit.

The Enrollment Manager moves each student from their current section and re-enrolls them in the destination section with the same role. Course history and submissions are preserved.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why can't I modify some enrollments?

If a student registered through Banner, their enrollment is managed there—not in Canvas. The Enrollment Manager cannot modify those records. This is primarily a failsafe, since the tool is only available in non-academic courses where Banner-fed enrollments typically would not exist. To change a Banner enrollment, the student must go through normal registration channels, or you can contact the Registrar's office.

What is the difference between my "Enrolled" number and "Manageable"? Why is Manageable lower?

The Enrolled count includes all course enrollments—including any test student accounts created via View as Student, and your own enrollment. Since those are not manageable, the Manageable count will always be lower.

What is the difference between Remove and Deactivate?

Deactivating keeps the enrollment record intact but removes course access—the user can be reactivated later with their history preserved. Removing is semi-permanent; the user is fully removed and must be re-added manually if access is needed again. Grade data is retained in both cases, but only visible if the user is added back if they were removed.

Can I undo removing a user from the course?

Not directly. There is no undo button. If someone was removed by mistake, re-enroll them manually through Canvas's People section, or use the Bulk Enroll tab for multiple users.

My CSV upload said some users were not found. What does that mean?

The tool matches email addresses to UIW accounts. Addresses that do not match—such as a personal email instead of a UIW address—will fail to enroll. Make sure you are using UIW email addresses (ending in @uiw.edu or @student.uiw.edu). External users without existing UIW accounts cannot be enrolled through this tool.

Will moving a student affect their grades or submissions?

Existing submissions are retained, but section-specific assignment availability and due date overrides may change depending on how your course is structured.

The Enrollment Manager does not appear in my course. How do I get access?

First, check your course navigation settings to see if it's an option to enable. If it's not there, you may have an academic course. The tool is only available in non-academic courses. It does not appear in Banner-sourced academic courses.