[Groups] Group Roster Export

This is an idea to modify group functionality so one can either export student group lists/rosters to a .csv spreadsheet format OR have groups listed in one of the spreadsheet columns when grades are exported (in the same fashion that Username and course section are included). In large enrollment classes, this is an absolutely essential feature. We use teams to set up tools external to the CMS and there currently is no easy way to access group data in the current Canvas configuration.

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86 Comments
jbrown
Community Participant

@admin_bu_carr  Yes, I believe so. When I tested it, I had to temporarily change the term to Default, then do the export, and then change the term back. I am an admin so I'm not sure you can do that! Once that magic term date starts, it works fine.

npalmo
Community Member

This is an essential function. 

jbrown
Community Participant

@admin_bu_carr  Yes, that is what I experienced. The only way I could get the group exports to work prior to the term start was to change the term to Default term (temporarily), do the export, then change it back to the appropriate term. If you are unable to make that change, it may require an admin to help.

 

 

JaniceLe
Community Novice

Download a list of students from self-assigned groups

lssupport
Community Member

Hi,

 

As we are allowed to create groupings in people list but after creation, there is no export function for us to download this grouping in csv file for our own usage. Thus it would be good to have an export function for this.

 

Regards,

Kian Koon

DanBurgess
Community Participant

Hi Kian,

I think you can do this by following the steps Download Course Roster CSV File in this guide:  How do I import groups in a group set? 

I tested it out and see that after I added students to groups, the download of the CSV file included the group names. It is arguably not a clear way to generate a listing, but maybe it will work for your needs.

Hope this helps. 

 

claytonr
Community Member

Please make the Groups exportable to Excel or Word to provide more flexible access.  As it is, the page is too big and too clumsy to show everyone in all the groups (for the Instructor), and copy/paste to Word is a mess and includes a lot of unneeded lines.  I'd like to be able to show all the groups with all the members on screen in class, and that's impossible and clumsy in the current format.

BrídBourke
Community Member

Students are distributed into groups on Canvas and it would be very handy if I could export the groups with students names into an excel to share with another department, which is organizing workshops for the students. 

 

BrídBourke
Community Member

I'm new to Canvas this year and came here to submit an idea about this and was brought to this group.   It's a bit disillusioning to see that the first person posted about a group export feature in 2016 and that they have wanted this since 2012 - now we are in 2022!  The import feature is established and working well.  The export feature would be especially useful when I have randomly distributed students to groups and need to share that list with another department. 

With over 3k ideas in the 'open for conversation' stage, how can we move this requirement to the next stage and what's the average timeline to get from there into development?   

jbrown
Community Participant

@BrídBourke 
Canvas now has the ability to export groups as a CSV/spreadsheet. Go to People > Groups, select the desired group, select +Import, and select the link to “Download Course Roster CSV.”

Apparently, it's a secret! 😁

It's on this page, but it implies this is only to give you a template. It's a populated CSV:

https://community.canvaslms.com/t5/Instructor-Guide/How-do-I-import-groups-in-a-group-set/ta-p/41779...