UUID appended to a student's submission

[ScottGray2]

When a student uploads a revised file for the same assignment, Canvas will append a -# to the file name. For example, if my student uploads index.html and then reuploads a modified version, Canvas will title the file index-2.html.

For one of my students, instead of adding a number, it appends a UUID. So, instead of index-2.html, it will be named something like index-6b245ad5-5911-4ff8-9099-ce082a3d9fc0.html.

Two questions that I have are:

1. What is causing my one student to have a UUID appended to their submissions? They are not doing it.
2. Is there a way to stop Canvas from appending the -# onto the end of resubmitted assignments?

Thanks,

Scott

[cstrikwerda · Accepted solution]

Hello @ScottGray2 

Thanks for posting in the Community!

I tested this and was seeing that Canvas will add a -# upon submission if the file is the same name as a previously submitted file. This is because Canvas cannot differentiate between the two files if they are the same name, so it will append the -# when submitted. I cannot see a way around this function.

However if you are seeing something strange with your students submission being given a different ID upon submission and we think Canvas is doing that, please reach out to Canvas Support and they should be able to assist further. How do I contact Canvas Support?

Hope this helps!

[ScottGray2]

Thank you for the feedback. Yes, the hyphen # is the same behavior I'm seeing with my students. I don't remember this ever occurring with my students' files in the past, but maybe it did. As for the UUID being appended, it is just one student, and Canvas is doing it. I'll check in with support.

Thank you for your help!

Best,

Scott

[GBarnes8]

Hi ScottGray2,

Did you ever receive an explanation from Support?  Or see it happen again, or with other students?

I had this happen to me a couple weeks ago (in this case, I'm a student who had it happen to his files).  I'm speaking of the 32-character uuid example, rather than the typical / expected addition of a simple -1, -2, etc. 

My only theory is canvas might have an upper limit on "normal" amount of renames for a file resubmitted, and then switches to a uuid renaming scheme beyond that.  I suspect it might only do normal renames up until "-9" and then switches to uuid, rather than "-10" etc.   

I'm not able to currently test it, but do know my particular example happened when I resubmitted many many times (probably at least a dozen).