Choose the intake path based on where the work currently lives: local files, the LMS, pasted text, camera capture, or a scanned paper stack.
Step by step
- Open the assessment detail page and decide whether the submissions should come from upload, LMS pull, paste, camera capture, or stack processing.
- Use Upload Submissions when the work is sitting in files outside the LMS and you want to import a class set manually.
- Use Pull From LMS when the work already exists in the connected LMS and you want Classwise to import it for grading.
- Open a single student row if you want to use the one-student upload flow, paste text directly, or capture work by camera.
- Use Upload Submission Stack only when you are processing a scanned pile of paper work for multiple students at once.
- After intake finishes, refresh the assessment table and confirm that the right student rows now have submissions attached.
You should see
Submissions enter the assessment through the intake path that best matches the source of the work.
Keep in mind
- Single-student upload, paste, and camera capture do not use exactly the same grading path.
- Stack submission is PDF-only and is meant for paper workflows at class scale.
Common blockers
- The right intake path depends on whether the work is already in your LMS, still on paper, or sitting in files outside the gradebook.
Once submissions are attached, the next job is to run the right grading action and then use the states to decide what still needs attention.
Step by step
- Open the assessment detail page and review which rows are ready to grade.
- Use Grade to open the menu with Grade All and Grade Ungraded.
- Choose Grade All when you want to process every gradable row, or choose Grade Ungraded when you only want untouched or cancelled rows.
- Confirm the action in Grade All Submissions? or Grade Ungraded Submissions?.
- Let the jobs run, then watch the table for rows moving from Not graded or In progress into Completed or Needs review.
- Use Cancel Grading only if the batch is already running and you need to stop it before the job finishes.
- Open any row that lands in Needs review before you publish or email anything outward.
You should see
You can tell which submissions are still processing, which need teacher review, and which are ready to share.
Keep in mind
- Grade All ignores rows that are not gradable right now.
- Needs review is a teacher checkpoint, not a failure state.
Keep in mind
Completion grading does not replace the review logic for accuracy grading. It layers alongside it when enabled.
Use the single-student page to inspect the grader output, make teacher edits, and confirm the result before you publish, email, or download anything.
Step by step
- Open one student row from the assessment table.
- Use Previous Student and Next Student if you want to move through the class without returning to the table each time.
- Click Grade if the submission has not been processed yet.
- Wait for the grading view to finish loading, then review the question-level breakdown, feedback, and totals.
- If the page shows Review Required or Needs review markers, read those first before you decide the result is ready.
- If the page shows Grading Error, edit the accuracy and completion totals in the header if you need a manual score for LMS publishing or the shared feedback page.
- Edit scores, comments, bonus points, or completion values where needed.
- Click Save or Save & Next when the feedback looks right.
- Use More if you need Copy Link, Download, or a one-student feedback action.
- Use Annotate when you need highlights, ink marks, or text labels directly on a submitted PDF (requires Pro, legacy Standard, or School/District plan access). See How to annotate PDF submissions during review below for the full workflow.
- Use Regrade, Replace, or Delete only when the source submission or grading result really needs to change.
You should see
You use teacher review as the control point before feedback leaves the product.
Keep in mind
- Replace is not available for pasted submissions.
- Annotate appears only when the submission includes at least one PDF file.
- Unsaved teacher edits can trigger a confirmation flow before you navigate away.
Common blockers
- Regrading, replacing the file, or deleting the row changes what is safe to publish or email next.
- A grading error can remove the question-by-question review UI, so teachers may need to finish with manual topline score overrides instead.
Mark up submitted PDFs with highlights, ink, or short text labels while you stay in the grading workflow. Saved annotations attach to that PDF record so you can reopen the annotator later.
Step by step
- Open one student row from the assessment table so the single-student grading layout loads.
- Confirm there is at least one PDF attachment. Paste-only responses and submissions that contain only non-PDF files hide Annotate.
- Confirm your account includes Pro, legacy Standard, or School/District access. Starter treats submission PDF annotation as a Pro-tier workflow.
- Click Annotate in the submission actions row near Regrade.
- Wait for the full-screen annotation workspace to finish loading.
- Pick a tool under Annotation tools, typically pan/hand for scrolling the page, highlight, freehand draw, or text.
- Use Zoom out and Zoom in when you need more precision on equations, diagrams, or handwriting.
- Click Save inside the annotator when you want Classwise to persist changes for the active PDF file. Wait for the success toast.
- Optional: click Download to save a flattened PDF that includes your marks directly in the file.
- Click Close in the annotator or use the header Back control to return to grading. Unsaved marks trigger a discard confirmation.
- When multiple PDFs exist for one student, switch tabs inside the annotator, then repeat Save or Download per file.
You should see
Saved marks reopen with the submission PDF, flattened downloads include your markup, and returning to grading respects unsaved-change prompts.
Keep in mind
- Annotation saves are independent from grading edits. Use Save on the main submission page for scores and feedback, and Save inside the annotator for PDF markup.
- Download produces an offline artifact you can archive or attach elsewhere. LMS publishing and secure feedback links still follow your normal sharing workflow.
- Moving to Previous Student or Next Student while unsaved annotation changes exist follows the same confirmation behavior as closing the annotator.
Notes
- While grading is still running for that submission row, action buttons including Annotate may stay disabled until the job settles.
Keep in mind
Starter plans do not include submission PDF annotation. Use Billing or your institution admin when your role expects this workflow.
Common blockers
- Paste-only submissions and non-PDF uploads hide Annotate.
- Starter-only accounts must upgrade before submission PDF annotation is part of the supported workflow.
- A submission row that is still actively grading may temporarily disable annotating until the job completes.
Limitations
- Annotation targets PDF attachments only.
- Use a flattened download when you need the marked PDF outside Classwise or attached to email manually.
Use stack submission when a class set of paper work has already been scanned into one or more PDFs and still needs to be assigned to students.
Step by step
- Open Upload Submission Stack from the assessment.
- Upload one or more PDF files. Auto-Assign with AI is selected by default; switch to Assign Manually when every submission has the same number of pages and you want to match students yourself.
- If you switch to Assign Manually, set Pages per submission so Classwise can group the scan into equal student-sized chunks for review.
- If you choose Auto-Assign with AI on Starter or free access without an active trial, clicking Save and Next opens an upgrade modal instead of starting AI processing.
- If you choose Auto-Assign with AI on an active trial, Pro, legacy Standard, or school/custom access, click Save and Next and confirm the modal so Classwise can separate the stack and start matching submissions to students in your roster. The confirmation warns that the run may take several minutes.
- If you start the AI path and need to back out before review is ready, use Cancel and Return on the processing screen to go back to the upload step.
- If the AI preparation step fails, use Retry Auto-Assign to run it again or Cancel and Return to switch back to the upload step.
- When the review step opens, confirm the page groupings and use the preview drawer to inspect one chunk at a time.
- Review the page groupings, then assign each chunk to the correct student if you stayed on the manual path.
- If you want to rerun the AI pass from review, click Redo Auto-Assign, confirm the Redo Auto-Assign? modal, and then review the new suggested matches before you create submissions.
- Add or remove placeholder pages only when you need to fix scan alignment.
- Confirm the stack so Classwise creates the student submissions and returns you to the assessment.
- Run grading only after you confirm that the chunks were assigned to the right students.
You should see
Large paper-based batches can be processed in one workflow instead of grading every student one by one.
Keep in mind
- Stack submission only accepts PDF files.
- The upload step keeps the assignment choice visible as two compact cards. Auto-Assign with AI appears first and is selected by default, while manual assignment shows the page-count helper after it is selected.
- Changing the split method or pages per submission resets existing chunk assignments and placeholder offsets.
- Auto-Assign with AI is available on active trials and Pro plan or higher access, costs 5 credits on the initial run, and is best when the student name or identifier appears on the first page of each submission.
- Auto Assign locks the review table while it runs, shows a progress banner, and still requires you to verify the matches before you continue.
- The review table includes Redo Auto-Assign so you can rerun the same AI matching flow from review without going back to the upload step first, and confirmed redo runs do not deduct another 5 credits.
- The credits ledger records the AI paper-stack run as one Auto-Assign entry. Submissions left unassigned for review do not create extra credit deductions.
- The processing screen now includes a Cancel and Return action so teachers can leave the AI preparation step and go back to the upload configuration without waiting for the review table to load.
- If AI preparation fails, Classwise now shows a retryable error screen instead of dropping you straight into fallback review.
- Duplicate student names are intentionally left unassigned so the teacher can choose the correct student manually.
- If Classwise is unsure about a submission, it leaves that submission unassigned for teacher review.
Limitations
- Stack submission still depends on clear file organization and readable uploads.