Importing Canvas Classes and Rosters

This article walks through importing Canvas classes and rosters into PaperScorer, and covers what happens when rosters change later. It assumes your Canvas account is already connected — if it isn’t, see connecting your account to Canvas first.

Running an Import

From any page in the application, click the create button and select the Class option.

From the “create new class” modal, select Canvas import. (You may see additional options depending on which other accounts your institution has connected.)

You’ll see a list of available Canvas classes you can import.

1. Name (required): the class name as it appears in Canvas. You can change it to something different before saving in PaperScorer.
2. Import (required): how PaperScorer should handle this class record at import time:
   1. Do not import class — the class will be skipped.
   2. Import with X students — the class will be imported along with its roster.
   3. Import without students — the class will be imported, but no students will be added. You can add or import them later.

After the import finishes, you’ll be redirected to your active class list and the new class(es) will appear there.

Keeping Rosters in Sync

The import is a one-time snapshot — PaperScorer doesn’t automatically reflect later changes in Canvas. If your roster changes later:

• A student is added in Canvas. Re-run the Canvas import flow for the same class — new students will be added to the existing PaperScorer roster.
• A student is dropped in Canvas. They won’t be auto-removed from PaperScorer. You can remove them manually from the class roster if needed; their existing scan history stays attached to them.
• A student’s name changes in Canvas. Re-importing the class roster will update the student record in PaperScorer to match the new name.

Edge Cases

A class is concluded in Canvas after I imported it.

The PaperScorer class stays, and you can keep printing/scanning/grading for it. But the concluded class will no longer appear in the “available classes” list for import, so you can’t re-sync the roster. If you need to refresh the roster, you’ll need an admin to re-open the section in Canvas.

I imported the same class twice.

PaperScorer detects classes already imported from Canvas and updates the existing record rather than creating a duplicate. Students are matched by their Canvas user ID, so re-importing won’t create duplicates.

I see a class in Canvas but it’s not in the import list.

Confirm three things in Canvas: (1) the class is published and active (not concluded); (2) you’re assigned as a teacher in that course; (3) you signed in to PaperScorer with the same Canvas account that has access to the class. If all three are true and the class still doesn’t appear, try disconnecting and reconnecting your Canvas account.

Test students or guest accounts are appearing in my roster.

PaperScorer imports whoever Canvas reports as a student in the course. If you don’t want test users or sandbox accounts in PaperScorer, remove them from the Canvas roster first, then re-import.