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Uploading Grades from Excel to Blackboard

In some cases, instructors may prefer to manage their students’ grades in Excel rather than in Blackboard’s Grade Center. With Blackboard’s “Work Offline” tool, it is possible for instructors to import grades from Excel into Blackboard’s Grade Center. This provides a secure way to share grade details with students and to ensure that students receive timely feedback about their standing in the course.

Below are steps on how to export, manage, and upload grade data using Excel and Blackboard.

Step 1: Download grades from the Blackboard Grade Center

This step will ensure that your grade columns will remain consistent across multiple uploads.

  1. From your course’s left-hand navigation bar, select Grade Center > Full Grade Center
  2. Open the Work Offline menu in the far-right corner of the page, then select Download
  3. To download a copy of your course’s Full Grade Center as a CSV file, locate the “Delimiter Type” field, then select the Comma radio button. Leave all other default settings as-is.
    • If you would like to download a specific grade column, rather than the Full Grade Center, use the “Selected Column” field to choose from a list of available columns
  4. Click Submit
  5. Once the file has processed, click Download to continue.
  6. Open the CSV file using your browser’s or your computer’s “Downloads” folder

Step 2: Enter or modify grades using Excel

  1. To add or modify a score using Excel, locate the appropriate cell from your spreadsheet, then enter a new number based on the score a student earned
    • If you included Blackboard columns in your grade center download, leave all column headers as-is. Preserving the original headers will reduce technical issues during upload.
  2. Once the relevant scores have been updated, save the file as a CSV. This will allow you to upload the changes back to Blackboard’s Grade Center.
    • You may receive a prompt from Excel to confirm the CSV format. Click Yes to proceed.
    • If you choose to save the working copy of your gradebook as an Excel spreadsheet (i.e. XLSX file), save an additional copy as a CSV file before you proceed to the upload steps below. Native Excel files cannot be uploaded to Blackboard.

Step 3: Upload modified grades to the Blackboard Grade Center

  1. Navigate to your course’s Full Grade Center
  2. Select Work Offline, then click Upload
  3. Click Browse Local Files to locate your CSV file, then click Open to confirm.
  4. Leave the “Delimiter Type” option set to Auto
  5. Click Submit
  6. Blackboard will prompt you to review the grades that you are uploading. Select the checkbox for each column you would like to update, then click Submit
  7. Your updated grades will appear in your course’s Full Grade Center



If you have any questions about grading offline using Excel, please contact the LeBow Instructional Tech Services Team.

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