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Gradebook Columns Out of Order

Question asked by Adam Beehler on Mar 6, 2018
Latest reply on Sep 5, 2018 by Kimberly Smith

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How does one keep the columns in a fixed order? Under assignments, I order my assignments by category and then arrange them in the order I desire; however, the gradebook does not keep them in the same order. I can rearrange them within the gradebook itself, yet they do not stay in that order within the assignments. What is worse, is that when I export my gradebook, the columns are yet in a different order. I ultimately would like my assignment columns to not change, especially when I export them to a csv file.

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Adam Beehler Mar 13, 2018 9:09 AM
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More information:

By default in my gradebook, the "Arrange columns by assignment group" does not show up for me. I assume it is because the gradebook is already arranged that way. If I choose, "Arrange columns by due date," then afterwards I get the option to "Arrange columns by assignment group." I have attached a screenshot to show you (AssignColumnsByAssignmentGroup.png).

After arranging columns by assignment group, I do get the columns arranged so; however, they are not in the same order as they are when I arranged them under the Assignments tab. I have attached a screenshot of this, too (NoteColumnOrder.png). The PreLecture assignments are no longer in numerical order.

Then I go ahead and export the gradebook as a csv. Upon opening the csv file, I can see that everything is indeed still arranged by assignment group. Yet, as you can see in another attached screenshot (CSV_File_ColumnOrder.png), the PreLecture assignments are now in a different order than shown in the Canvas gradebook. For this particular group (i.e. PreLecture), they are in numerical order, but for other groups they are not. Also, the order of the groups themselves is different from the gradebook and Assignments tab. For example, the group PreLecture comes before the group Homework on Canvas but not so in the csv file.

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AssignColumnsByAssignmentGroup.png
CSV_File_ColumnOrder.png
NoteColumnOrder.png
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Karyn Voldstad Apr 6, 2018 10:39 AM
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I am also frustrated by column order in Gradebook. I have it sorted by date, but any assignments that are due on different dates for different sections in the same course are sorted to the front of the list, completely out of order.

I am also surprised that searching the resources doesn't take me to the instructions for using the gradebook.
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rogrant@nmsu.edu Aug 22, 2018 12:52 PM
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Adam,

Were you able to find an answer to your question? I am going to go ahead and mark this question as answered because there hasn't been any more activity in a while so I assume that you have the information that you need. If you still have a question about this or if you have information that you would like to share with the community, by all means, please do come back and leave a comment. Also, if this question has been answered by one of the previous replies, please feel free to mark that answer as correct.

Robbie
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- Adam Beehler @ rogrant@nmsu.edu on Aug 22, 2018 1:57 PM
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  Thanks for checking in, Robbie. The issue is partially answered. Here is where we are at. Canvas made a change that appears to have fixed the bug that allows the order of columns in the Gradebook to be different than the order within the Assignments page. That is good. Unfortunately, the exported csv file from the Gradebook can still be in a different order. I did learn this though. Assignments in the exported gradebook (in the csv file) are displayed by the order of a hidden assignment ID (mine show as six digit numbers in the headers of the assignment columns within the csv file). The assignment ID is created in numerical order based on creation date/time. So, in the csv file, assignments are first grouped together by category (in the order the category was created), and then they are ordered using their own assignment ID (which is based on when the assignments were created). Thus, for now, one must (from the get-go) create their course's categories and assignments exactly in the order they would like them to appear in the exported columns. There seems to be no way to change the order afterwards.
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Kimberly Smith Sep 1, 2018 1:49 PM
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Hello Robbie Grant Admin and Adam Beehler ,
I keep my Gradebook (Classic version - not 'New') in order by assignment date. When I export the Gradebook, it orders the columns by Assignment Group. It soinds as if there is no way yet to force the column order of our Gradebook CSV exports to match the order of the Gradebook at the time of that export? Am I reading that right?
Thank you.
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- Adam Beehler @ Kimberly Smith on Sep 4, 2018 10:30 AM
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  Kimberly,
  Correct, at least as far as I have been able to determine. The Gradebook csv is fixed in how it organizes the order of the columns - first grouped together by category (in the order the categories were created), and second by assignment ID (which is based on when the assignments were created).
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  - Kimberly Smith @ Adam Beehler on Sep 4, 2018 3:52 PM
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    Ahhh.... well that's unfortunate. I would submit a feature idea request, but the newish policy of these ideas competing for votes (rather than needing minimum number of votes) for consideration makes me hesitate. I have voted on other features, and submitted some of my own, that I feel are more critical.
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  - Stefanie Sanders @ Adam Beehler on Sep 5, 2018 6:53 AM
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    Adam and Kimberly, the feature idea currently open for voting is Exported gradebook should match filters on the grade screen
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    - Adam Beehler @ Stefanie Sanders on Sep 5, 2018 11:06 AM
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      Kimberly and Stefanie, thank you for reminding us to VOTE for the improved feature! I voted for the following. There have been others, but they did not make the cut and are now archived.
      Exported gradebook should match filters on the grade screen
      Export CSV better
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      - Kimberly Smith @ Adam Beehler on Sep 5, 2018 3:03 PM
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        Hello Stefanie Sanders and Adam Beehler ,
        Thank you for the links to these ideas. I will consider voting for them. In my reading of those, however, I am not seeing where they address the issue of maintaining the order of the Gradebook columns in the CSV export file. Rather, those seem to be about the ability to specify which students and/or columns will be included in the download (to eliminate those not needed). Am I missing something there? I would not want to submit a new feature idea (about column order in the Gradebook versus in the CSV export) if one or both of the ideas you mention is already addressing that issue?
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        Stefanie Sanders @ Kimberly Smith on Sep 5, 2018 3:41 PM
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        This is from the description of the idea to which I linked: "...If the exported csv matches what is seen on the screen this will take care of all these issues."
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        Kimberly Smith @ Stefanie Sanders on Sep 5, 2018 4:10 PM
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        Ahhh... thank you Stefanie Sanders . I zipped by that too quickly - since most of the discussions that followed focused on filters. I have voted up .
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Gradebook Columns Out of Order

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