The Grade button is greyed out, or nothing happens
Updated 19 September 2026
The five conditions, and what clears each
- Not signed in
- The button reads Sign in to grade. Sign in and come back; nothing you set up is lost.
- No writing prompt
- The essays step is locked and reads Add the prompt first. Type what the students were asked to write, pick an assignment that already has one, or tick the option saying the prompt is printed on the essays.
- No rubric
- The essays step reads Pick a rubric first. Choose a standard one, one of your own, or the No rubric option, which gives written feedback and no score.
- A rubric editor still open
- The essays step reads Finish your rubric first, and under the button: Finish your rubric to grade. Save or close the editor.
- Nothing added to grade
- The button reads Add essays to grade. Add a file, a photo, a Google Docs link or typed text.
One more, easy to miss: if you started creating an assignment and have not finished, the line under the button reads Create the assignment (or cancel) to grade. Doing either releases it.
If the button is dark and clicking it still does nothing
At that point the screen thinks it has everything, so the thing to check is whether a file you chose actually became a row in the list. A refused file type shows a message and adds nothing, which reads on screen as the upload having worked and the button doing nothing.
If a row is there and the button genuinely does not respond, tell us which browser you are on through Contact and we will look at it. That is worth doing rather than working around: it would be a bug, not a setting.
What this will not do
Grading needs an account. A signed-out visitor sees Sign in to grade. Your grades are then saved to Review. There is no anonymous essay grading.
A half-built rubric blocks the whole batch, not just one essay. This is deliberate. Every essay in a batch is scored against the same rubric, so an unsaved one would mean the set was measured against different things.
Adding a file is not the same as adding an essay. A refused file type never becomes a row, so the list can look empty right after you chose something. The message saying why sits above the list.
The essay batch needs the tab to stay open. It is driven from the page, a few essays at a time. Anything already graded is saved; anything not yet sent stops with the tab.
Common questions
Why is the Grade button greyed out?
One of five things: you are not signed in, there is no writing prompt, there is no rubric, a rubric editor is still open, or nothing has been added to grade yet. The button itself names the missing one, and the essays step carries a short line saying which step to go back to. It never hides, so whatever it says is the thing to fix.
It says Finish your rubric to grade. What does that mean?
A rubric editor is open and unsaved. Half a rubric is not something a class of essays can be scored against, so grading waits until you save it or close it. Save it and the line disappears.
I do not want a score, only feedback. Do I still need a rubric?
Pick the No rubric option in the rubric step, which gives written feedback and no score. It counts as answering the rubric step, and in that mode the writing prompt is not required either. It exists because our library rubrics are classroom and state-test rubrics, and forcing writing that answers to none of them onto the nearest one produces a confident number measuring the wrong thing.
The prompt is printed on the essays themselves. Do I have to type it out?
No. Tick the option that says the prompt is printed on the essays and it is read from the first paper instead. That is the only thing that unlocks the upload step with the prompt box left empty.
The button looks active but clicking it does nothing.
Check that something has actually been added: with an empty list the button reads Add essays to grade. If a file was picked and no row appeared, the file type was refused, and there will be a message saying so. If you were part-way through creating an assignment, finish or cancel it first: the line under the button says Create the assignment (or cancel) to grade.
Does grading stop if I close the tab?
For essays, keep the tab open: the batch is driven from the page, so closing it stops the essays that have not been sent yet. Ones already graded are saved. Worksheet grading is different, and runs on our side once submitted.
Do worksheets have the same gate?
No. A worksheet needs nothing set up first. Sign in, add the pages, grade. The prompt and rubric steps exist only on the essay screen, because an essay cannot be scored without something to score it against.
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