Create Canvas Groups Manually

Quick Links: | Prerequisites | Instructions | Troubleshooting | Next Steps |

Introduction

Creating groups in Canvas helps you organize students for group assignments, discussions, and collaborative activities. Manual group creation is useful when you want to control group names, group size, or the number of groups in the course. This process begins in the course People area, where you create a group set and then add each group individually. These instructions cover manual group creation in a course group set and do not cover automatic group creation or CSV import methods.

Prerequisites

• You are enrolled in the Canvas course with an Instructor role or another role that can manage course groups.
• The course includes the People link in Course Navigation.
• You know whether you want students to self sign up or whether you will place students into groups yourself.

Step-by-Step Instructions

To create groups in Canvas, do the following:

Create Groups in Canvas

To create groups in Canvas, do the following:

1. From Course Navigation, select People.
2. Select + Group Set.
3. In the group set window, enter a name in Group Set Name.
4. Choose whether to allow student self sign-up.
5. In Group Structure, select Create groups later.
6. Select Save.
7. In the new group set, select + Group.
8. Enter a name in Group Name.
9. To limit the size of the group, enter a number in Group Membership Limit.
10. Select Save.
11. Repeat steps 7 through 10 for each additional group you want to create.
12. After the groups are created, assign students to groups manually, automatically, or by import, depending on how you want to manage enrollment.

Now the group set exists in your course and each group has been created individually. You can continue by adding students to groups and using those groups for group-based course activities.

For the original vendor documentation, see the Instructure Community guide, How do I manually create groups in a group set?.

Troubleshooting

If you do not see People in Course Navigation, the link may be hidden in the course navigation menu or unavailable in your course. Open the course Settings, review the Navigation tab, and confirm that People is enabled for the course.

If the group set is created but students are not yet in groups, that is expected until you assign them manually, create them automatically, or import them from a CSV file.

For group assignments, place students into groups before publishing the assignment whenever possible, since later group changes can affect submissions and grading.

Next Steps (Optional)

Other support articles that might be helpful.

• How do I view all groups in a course as an instructor?
• How do I add a group set in a course?
• How do I edit or delete a group set in a course?
• How do I import groups in a group set?
• How do I automatically create groups in a group set?
• How do I manually create groups in a group set?
• How do I create self sign-up groups in a group set?
• How do I allow students to create their own student groups?
• How do I bulk assign students to groups?
• How do I manually assign students to groups?
• How do I assign a student leader to a group?
• How do I message students who have not signed up for a self sign-up group?
• How do I prevent students from switching groups in self sign-up groups?
• How do I move a student into a different group?
• How do I view content and student activity within a group as an instructor?
• How do I view my instructor groups in Canvas?