Batch Edit Assignment Dates ... BACKWARDS

[bsr]

I was so excited that Canvas finally created a way to edit all assignment dates on a single page, including the ability to batch edit... and then spring 2021 happened, and I discovered that the batch edit function is useless if you need to move dates backwards instead of forwards. Our university cancelled spring break due to the pandemic, so all deadlines after what would have been spring break have to be moved back one week. Why on earth would this feature be incorporated and not give the ability to move dates in either direction? (A pandemic isn't the only case for needing to move dates backwards!) Is there a work-around? This is still better than nothing, but it's just such a weird miss!

[gnoack]

That does seem bizarre that they didn't think to add the ability to move both forwards and backwards. 

You can adjust assignment dates on the calendar by dragging and dropping.  The only problem there is that it won't adjust availability dates, only the due dates. 

[bsr]

Yet another peculiar decision! 

[ntwebster]

It is incredibly frustrating!

[woletzja21]

Agreed--I need to move dates backward one day, as I teach one section on M/W and another on T/R.  If I had known, I would have set up my M/W class first.  I'm a little surprised the "date shift" isn't a drop down choice, where they could have had negative or positive numbers.

[brentcarlini]

Bumping this! This feature is absolutely necessary. Can we get negative numbers on the date shift option please?

[mmtscn]

I need to move due dates backwards as well. I was surprised that backwards moving is not supported. Please add this feature. It's been months since the feature request was made.

[brentcarlini]

I agree! This would definitely be a helpful feature!

[Chris_Hofer]

Hello...

Have you tried using the Canvancement (Canvas Enhancement) created by @James Jones called Adjust All Assignment Dates on One Page - Instructure Community?  It uses a Google Spreadsheet to change the dates.  It might be worth seeing if that would meet your needs if the built-in bulk update screen for assignments isn't meeting your needs.

[mmtscn]

Hi @Chris_Hofer,

Thanks for pointing us to @James's post. I was not aware of that. This will be extremely helpful for the future courses I will administer.

[duffy1000]

Okay, here we are in 2022, and I'm copying a Spring 2022 course and adjusting dates.  Since we don't have a Spring Break in the Fall of 2022, it appears that I can't use the bulk assignment update editor to just move over 30 assignments back 7 days in time.  Really? Hoping there is a way to do this.

Please tell me that this isn't happening.  I would so rather spend my time creating content than manually editing dates.  I did see the comments that there is an add-on/Google spreadsheet that may help here.  My issue:  that sounds like just as much work as just doing the manual edit I think I'm about to start.

[klassen]

I just found this and was ecstatic! Until I pushed my last years assignments too far by 1.5 weeks.  Now I can neither undo it nor push them back the 1.5 weeks.  Unless I do them one... at... a... time...  Even the one page system is painful since when you click in the date it doesn't let you bypass the "click a date on the calendar" easily—I've tried just double-clicking dates and typing a new number and it ends up just deleting everything in the box.

Additionally, there isn't any way to move calendar *events* forward (I created one for each lecture period last year...)

[woletzja21]

I agree, this is very frustrating.  I found that I also needed to click on the calendar to adjust dates every time because mine would disappear if I typed them in or tried to copy/paste them. 

I realized after a while, that the field's default format includes the day of the week, which, I think is what makes it disappear.  Therefore, if a previous course's due date was set to Sun, 10/9/2022, and if you try to paste in 2/6/2023 for your new course, it will not accept it because 2/6 is a Monday, not a Sunday.

[duffy1000]

Hi @Chris_Hofer and @James 

Could you give us a update on this topic?  I am about to copy over last fall's class into the Spring 2023 version, and will again face a bulk update of 30+ dates.  I will have a batch of dates I need to move forward, and another batch I will need to move backwards.

[James]

@duffy1000 

I have not heard of any additional development on the Canvas' bulk date editing tool.

My spreadsheet still allows formula-driven dates. After loading the dates, the due dates are in column B and column K is blank. I go to column K for a date that needs adjusted (say row 28), type a formula like =B28+7 to add 7 days or =B28-7 to subtract 7 days. Then I copy the value in K28 and paste special as value (Shift+Ctrl+V) into cell B28. Of course, I make all of the changes at once and then copy/paste one time, but you get the idea.

[LeoSpizzirri]

Still waiting.

[EricBenshetler]

I was just setting up a new summer 2024 course in Canvas that I inherited from another instructor who's leaving.  I imported his previous Canvas course from last year and batch-edited all the assignment dates by +366 days.  Oops!  Two too many.  That's when I discovered that I can't then do a -2 adjustment.  I decided to re-import the course again and start over with a +364 shift.  Fortunately, I hadn't started editing any of the copied material.

Seems like implementing a negative shift would be easy, but then as a former software engineer I guess I'm overestimating the simplicity.

[walshe]

The Canvas multi-tool is similar to bulk edit.  A negative number of days can be inserted into the textbox.
https://www.usu.edu/teach/help-topics/canvas/multi-tool-due-date-modifier

[Chris_Hofer]

@walshe ...

It should be noted that the Multi-Tool is *not* part of the core Canvas product.  Rather, the Multi-Tool is part of a third-party toolset designed by Cidi Labs called DesignPLUS.  DesignPLUS is a paid product, and it consists of three things:

• Sidebar
• Multi-Tool
• Upload/Embed Image Tool

Not all schools have purchased DesignPLUS, and if this is the case, then they will not have the Multii-Tool in their course navigation...as described in the linked video you shared.

I hope this helps to clear up any confusion when looking for the Multi-Tool.

[EricBenshetler]

I realize that DesignPLUS is a possible solution for those that have it, and appreciate the tip from walshe.  However, as it is a third-party add-on, I'd still like to see this capability added to the native Canvas implementation.

[Chris_Hofer]

Hi @EricBenshetler ...

If you would like to see this as a part of the core Canvas product, then I'd suggest that you create a new idea in the Ideas and Themes space here in the Community.

To read more about how to create a new Idea here in the Community, check out the section on "Ideas and Themes" at:

Instructure Community Guide - Instructure Community

Then, head on over to:

Canvas Ideas and Themes - Instructure Community

Click on the blue "View and Submit Ideas" button. On the next page, click on the blue "Submit an Idea" button.

I hope this will be of some help to you.

[EricBenshetler]

Hi Chris,

Thanks for the recommendation.  Link to the idea is below.

                         --- Eric

https://community.canvaslms.com/t5/Canvas-Ideas/Allow-Dates-to-be-Moved-Backwards-in-Batch-Edit-of-A...

[cvalle]

Summer of 2024 and this feature is still missing. Please Instructure we need this! 

[bsr]

Fall of 2024 and the BUG is still not fixed (surely this is a bug, not an intentional design - who would have thought to implement a date change tool and have it only work in one direction?). I just imported my Fall 2023 Canvas course from last year, and for some unknown reason, it adjusted all the dates to Spring 2027. Now, of course, there is no way to adjust the dates backwards, except one by one. For a daily quiz. Every single lecture meeting. Not just the day, but month and year. I want to gnaw my own arm off. 

[EdwardPershwitz]

Looks like at least now it's an open ticket (if I'm interpreting https://community.canvaslms.com/t5/Canvas-Ideas/Assignments-Assignment-Bulk-Update-Negative-Date-Shi... correctly).

Changing dates takes days. Why is there a bulk date edit (albeit still dysfunctional) for assignments, but not for announcements, and not for quizzes (that can be ungraded), and not for when modules unlock? Why isn't there a way to map the dates when a course is copied in segments (e.g. one before the Spring Break and one after)? Or at least have a Spring Break feature where you can specify if you are adding or removing one and what the dates are. Spring Breaks are common enough, you would think. It takes a week to set up a semester worth of classes and it's mostly editing dates one by one ad nauseum.

And then for the simplest of things clicks are added, not removed. To change one announcement now, you need to click on it, then click on the ... menu, then click on edit, then get to the bottom of the page, then actually edit the date, then click on save, then click on this novel pop-up to not send an update, then get back to the announcement list. Could we not just display the announcement date chooser next to the announcement even if bulk edit isn't implemented? And while we are at it, a checkbox for enabling or disabling an announcement? Instructure really needs a UX expert or two. 

And for a bug like only supporting positive date shifts to stay there for years? Academia is so forgiving.

Okay, done ranting. Looks like they are fixing this one at least.

[davidrcrockett]

Took a bit of work, but I was able to get a script working to adds a date picker. Could use to go backwards or forwards. Not ready to publish yet, but it does work. I will post back at some point.