Canvas integration features: full implementation guide

While the Canvas Instructor Quick Setup gets your initial course navigation link live, this guide walks you through the comprehensive, chronological lifecycle of managing your integration—from day-one roster syncs to deploying your grading structure.

Phase 1: roster & student setup (before class starts)

Before building assignments, ensure your student registry and course structure are correctly mirrored from Canvas.

1. Roster sync

You do not need to manually invite students. Each time you launch Perusall from Canvas, an automatic background sync occurs.

• Any student added to your Canvas course is automatically added to your Perusall roster (found under the Students tab).
• Students who unenroll from your Canvas course are automatically removed.

2. Group & section sync

If you use specific Canvas groups or multi-section courses, you can sync these divisions directly to Perusall to keep your student discussion sizes manageable. 

1. Navigate to Perusall Settings > Grouping.
2. Select either Fixed grouping for all course material, Assignment-based, or Library content-based grouping from the grouping methods.
3. Then, scroll down to click Import Groups from Canvas or Import Sections from Canvas.
4. Select your preferred Canvas group set or section in the pop-up window, and click Save Changes.

💡 Need help with group settings? For a comprehensive look at how discussion small-groups function, student sorting behaviors, and editing group sets, see the complete guide on How do groups work? 

⚠️ Prerequisite: Your Canvas course must be published for Perusall to pull group data. If you modify your groups or sections in Canvas later, simply return to this menu, re-import them, and save.

Phase 2: Select your gradebook strategy

Perusall offers two distinct ways to pass grades back to Canvas. We recommend choosing your approach before creating assignments and linking in your Canvas course, available in your Perusall course Settings > Scoring > LMS grade sync.

Option A: Summary sync (single column)

Best for instructors who want a clean, minimalist Canvas gradebook. Perusall creates one single column in Canvas that dynamically updates with the student's rolling score.

• Average Score: Sum of all individual assignment scores divided by the total number of assignments.
• Total Score: Cumulative sum of points across all assignments.
• How to enable: Go to Perusall Settings > Scoring > LMS grade sync scroll to Grade sync to LMS, select Automatically sync students' average or total scores back to the LMS, and click Save.

Option B: Individual assignment grade columns

To see and configure the LMS gradebook column management choices, you must first select one of these two options in the primary dropdown:

Best for instructors who want a dedicated Canvas gradebook column for every individual Perusall assignment. If you choose this option, you have two ways to handle deployment (LMS gradebook column management):

• Path 1: Perusall creates gradebook columns in LMS for each Perusall assignment automatically: Perusall automatically creates a corresponding assignment link and gradebook column in Canvas every time you make an assignment in Perusall.  Any changes made to assignment deadline or score range in Perusall are automatically reflected in Canvas.
• Path 2: Instructor creates deep links in LMS; no Perusall gradebook columns will appear in LMS until deep links have been created: You manually create assignment-specific links inside your Canvas modules or assignments page.
   

Phase 3: Assignment linking

1. Build your library

Before setting up assignments, you must populate your course materials. You can pull content directly from your existing Canvas repository instead of uploading raw files.

1. Navigate to Course home > Library > Add content.
2. Select Page from Canvas or Document > Import from Canvas to grab static snapshots of your Canvas files.

💡 Managing Materials: To learn more about uploading textbooks, multimedia resources, or organizing items into folders, see the comprehensive How do I manage my course library content? What materials can I use? documentation. 

📌 Note: Perusall takes a static "snapshot" of the Canvas page at the moment of import. Subsequent edits made to the page within Canvas will not retroactively update in Perusall.

2. Setting up assignments links

Deploy your resources based on your chosen gradebook architecture from Phase 2:

If you chose option A (summary sync) OR option B - Path 1 (automatic creation)

The Hands-Off Workflow: You do not need to create individual links in Canvas.

1. Create all of your assignments directly inside Perusall.
2. If you chose Option B - Path 1, Perusall will automatically generate the matching assignments and gradebook items in Canvas for you.
3. Instructors and students will access all materials simply by clicking the main Perusall link in the Canvas left-hand course navigation.

If you chose option B -path 2 (manual graded deep linking)

The Custom Graded Workflow: You will manually construct individual links that map to a Canvas gradebook column.

1. Build first: Create your reading or video assignments inside Perusall first.
2. Link in Canvas: Go to your Canvas Assignments page and click + Add assignment.
3. Configure tool: Scroll down to Submission Type, select External tool, and click Find.
4. Select assignment: Click the blue magnifying glass next to Perusall. In the pop-up dropdown menu, select the specific Perusall assignment you want to target.
5. Finalize: Ensure that Import grading information to LMS is enabled, click Link to this assignment, check the box to Load This Tool In A New Tab, add your point values, and click Save & Publish.

Path 3: Manual ungraded deep linking (Canvas Modules)

The ungraded workflow: Use this pathway if you want to provide deep links directly to specific Perusall content or assignments but do not want to generate a gradebook column in Canvas.

1. Navigate to your Canvas Modules page.
2. Locate the target Module and click the + (Add item) icon.
3. In the dropdown menu, select External Tool.
4. Scroll down and click on Perusall from the available tools list.
5. A Perusall window will launch. Choose the specific assignment or library item you wish to connect, ensure that Import grading information to LMS is unchecked/disabled, and click Link to this assignment.
6. Click Add Item in Canvas, and remember to publish the new module link.

💡 Assignment features & analytics: For step-by-step details on managing submission deadlines, using the assignment action menus, or reviewing student data, see the core guide on How do I create and manage assignments? 

⚠️ Important due date  note: Canvas does not currently support automatic due-date importing via deep links. If manually deep-linking (Graded or Ungraded), you must manually type the assignment due dates into Canvas to match your Perusall deadlines.

Troubleshooting & email white-listing

To ensure smooth communication and prevent missed grade sync notifications, please ensure your campus IT department whitelists the following email domains:

• @perusall.com
• @mg.perusall.com

For technical failures regarding grade communication, please review the guide on How LTI 1.3 integration grade sync works.