How to move every due date in a Canvas unit at once

In Canvas, by hand

The bulk date editor

1. In Course Navigation, click Assignments.
2. Click the Options icon (three dots) to the right of the +Assignment button, and choose Edit Assignment Dates.
3. Click Batch Edit.
4. Tick the items you want to move. You can tick rows one by one, tick Select All, or type a date range to pick everything due in that window.
5. Click Shift Dates, enter the number of days, and confirm.
6. Look over the new dates in the list, then click Save.

What to watch for

• It doesn’t know about units. The list is your assignments, quizzes and graded discussions, not your modules. You pick the Unit 4 items yourself, so keep the module open in another tab.
• It counts calendar days, not school days. “Two school days later” is +2 for something due Wednesday but +4 for something due Thursday or Friday, because the weekend is in the way. Items due on different days of the week may need separate batches.
• Batch shifting moves dates forward. That suits a snow day. To pull dates earlier, edit those items one at a time.
• Calendar events are not in the list. If your unit has a review session or field trip on the Calendar, move it there.

One item at a time

For a handful of items, open each one, click Edit, change the Due date, and save. Check the Available from and Until dates while you are there: if an item locks before its new due date, students can’t turn it in.

With Course++, in one sentence

Course++ is a browser extension for Chrome and Firefox (and Edge, from the Chrome Web Store). You open your Canvas course, open Course++ beside it, and type what you want in plain words. It works inside the Canvas tab you already have open, using your own Canvas account, so it can only do what you can do, and its changes show up in Canvas as yours.

Course++ reads what is in your Unit 4 module, works out each item’s new date, and changes the dates in your course. You see each step as it works. If “school day” needs spelling out, say so: “skip the weekend,” or “we’re off Monday too.”

• You can undo most of it. Course++ keeps a History of its changes, with the old dates. Undo works for most items; it can’t undo changes to quizzes, or to an assignment once students have submitted to it. The undo preview tells you which items it will skip before anything changes.
• Nothing gets published by surprise. Moving a date doesn’t publish anything, and Course++ asks before it deletes anything, publishes or concludes a course, changes a course setting, or sends an Inbox message.