How Do I Apply a Late Submission Policy in the Gradebook?

A late submission policy automatically deducts points from work submitted after its due date, so you don’t have to calculate penalties manually for every assignment in Canvas. This guide covers setting one up, along with what to check if a deduction doesn’t behave the way you expect.

Before You Start: Preparation Checklist

Before you edit your Gradebook settings, decide on the following:

• Your deduction percentage — how many points to take off per day or hour late.
• Whether you want a lowest possible grade floor, so late work can’t be docked all the way to zero.
• That this policy is easiest to set early in the term, before late submissions start coming in.
• That the policy applies to every assignment in the course at once — it isn’t configured assignment by assignment.

Apply a Late Submission Policy

1. In Course Navigation, click Grades.
2. Click the Settings (gear) icon in the Gradebook.
3. Select the Late Policies tab.
4. Check Automatically apply deduction to late submissions.
5. Enter your deduction amount in the Late Submission Deduction field — this is a percentage of the total points possible.
6. Choose Day or Hour from the Deduction Interval dropdown.
7. If you want one, enter a floor percentage in the Lowest possible grade field so deductions can’t reduce a score below that point.
8. Click Apply Settings.

Best Practices

• Communicate your late policy in your Course Orientation and Syllabus.
• Set this policy early in the term, since it applies across the whole course rather than one assignment at a time.
• Use a Lowest possible grade floor so a few days’ lateness doesn’t tank a grade to zero.
• Pick a deduction interval — day or hour — that matches how strictly you enforce your deadlines.
• If one student or assignment shouldn’t be penalized, change that submission’s status in the Grade Detail Tray instead of disabling the whole policy.
• Consider setting up a companion Missing Submission policy in the same Gradebook Settings window, so ungraded work doesn’t sit blank instead of showing a grade.

Troubleshooting

Issue: An assignment you didn’t want penalized still received a late deduction.

Solution: The policy applies automatically to every assignment in the course. Open that submission’s Grade Detail Tray and change its status away from “Late” to remove the automatic deduction.

Issue: A student’s grade dropped all the way to zero from repeated deductions.

Solution: Check whether you set a Lowest possible grade floor. Without one, the deduction keeps applying per day or hour with no minimum.

Issue: You don’t see a Late Policies tab.

Solution: Confirm you clicked the gear icon directly in the Gradebook, not Course Settings — Late Policies lives specifically in the Gradebook’s own settings window.

Self-Check Questions

• Have I decided on a deduction percentage, and whether it applies per day or per hour?
• Did I set a Lowest possible grade floor to prevent a full-zero outcome?
• Am I applying this policy early in the term, before late submissions start piling up?
• Do I know how to exempt a single assignment or student if needed?
• Have I considered pairing this with a Missing Submission policy?

Additional Resources

• Instructure Community: How Do I Apply a Late Submission Policy in the Gradebook?
• Instructure Community: How Do I Apply a Missing Submission policy in the Gradebook?

Need Extra Support?

If a late policy isn’t calculating the way you expect, reach out to the TLC.