Situation: You (the instructor) have used the commenting tools to annotate and/or comment on your students' work.

Symptom: Students are not able to see your comments and annotations.

Solution: Make sure students enable the grading layer.

If this does not solve the issue, please go to Solution 2.

Solution: Configure the Feedback Release Date to an appropriate date and time.

The Feedback Release Date (known as Post Date in Turnitin direct) is the date when the feedback is open to students.

You can set the date to the appropriate date/time for your students to view the feedback and comments.


Do not set the Feedback Release Date / Post Date before the Start Date, especially if using Turnitin via Canvas. This will result in you and your students not being able to access your assignment.


In Turnitin via Canvas, the Feedback Release Date is in Turnitin Assignment Inbox settings.

In Turnitin Direct, the Feedback Release Date is in Assignment Settings.

  1. Click the class.
  2. Click More actions for the appropriate assignment, then click Edit settings to access the Assignment Settings.
  3. Change the Post date.
  4. Click Submit.