Excel tasks

In an Excel task you upload an Excel workbook (.xlsx) instead of a program. The app checks it against your teacher’s grading rules and awards points for each rule. Excel tasks carry a green Excel glyph in lists.

You solve the task on its page – there is no editor. The Upload .xlsx button in the top bar takes you to Your work.

Solving a task

1. Read the statement.
2. Under Your work, choose Download to get the starter file. If there is none, it says “Start from an empty workbook.”
3. Do the task in Excel and save the workbook as .xlsx.
4. Choose Upload .xlsx and pick the file, or drop it onto the upload area.
5. Wait for the file to be checked: the state changes by itself, there’s no need to reload.

To improve your work, upload a new version with Upload a new version. The best upload counts.

Screenshot to comeAn Excel task's Your work section: the starter file, the upload button and a checked upload's list of rulesStudent account, an open Excel task with a starter file and a limit of 3 uploads, one checked upload with partly met rules (e.g. 6 of 10 points)students/learning/excel-upload

Which files are accepted

• Only Excel .xlsx workbooks up to 9 MB.
• Not accepted: workbooks with macros (.xlsm, .xlsb), old .xls files, CSV, PDF, OpenDocument (.ods), Word and PowerPoint files and ZIP archives.
• Password-protected and damaged workbooks are not accepted.

When you upload an unsuitable file, you see at once what is wrong with it, e.g. “This is an old .xls file. Open it in Excel and save it as .xlsx.”

A refused file doesn’t use up an upload

A file that cannot be checked stays in your list of uploads, marked “File not accepted”, but doesn’t use up an upload. You can upload up to 10 such files for a task. After that, unsuitable files are no longer accepted, and a file refused during the check uses up an upload.

Number of uploads

Below the upload button it says how many uploads are left, e.g. “Uploads left: 2 of 3. The best result counts.” Without a limit: “You may upload again as many times as you need; the best result counts.” The limit is for the whole task, not per day.

You can’t upload when:

• the topic hasn’t started (“The task has not opened yet.”);
• the topic has closed (“The task has closed; no more uploads are accepted.”);
• every upload is used (“You have used every upload for this task.”);
• three of your files are already waiting to be checked (“Your earlier uploads are still being checked. Wait a moment and try again.”).

How it is checked

Select How it is checked to see every grading rule and its points, e.g. “5 rules, 10 points in total.” Rules can check, for example, cell values, whether a cell has a formula and which function it uses, formatting, borders, column widths, data types, sorting, filters, conditional formatting, charts and their titles.

Formula results are taken as Excel saved them. If the file has no calculated result for a formula (e.g. it was made by a program that doesn’t recalculate formulas), the rule gets “Could not verify”. Open the file in Excel, let it recalculate, save and upload it again.

An upload’s result

Uploads lists all your uploads, the newest at the top and expanded. Each one’s header shows its number (“Upload 2”), time, state, file name, points (“6 / 10”) and a button to download the file.

State	What it means
Waiting to be checked	The file is queued
Checking	The file is being checked
Checked	Checked, points awarded
File not accepted	The file isn’t a suitable workbook; the reason shows when expanded
Could not be checked	The check failed on our side. Such an upload is not used up

Expand an upload (Rule details) to see each rule:

Rule state	What it means
Met	Full points
Partly met	Part of the points, by how many cells match, e.g. “3 of 5 cells”
Not met	No points
Could not verify	The rule couldn’t be checked; no points

A rule that isn’t met gives the reason, e.g. “There is no formula here: the value was typed in.”, and examples from your file, e.g. B4: 1250.

If the file has links to other files, data connections or embedded objects, you are warned, but the file is still checked.

Your teacher’s mark

Your teacher can replace the automatic points and leave a comment. The upload is then marked “Changed by the teacher”, and you see the teacher’s points, the automatic result (“Automatic: 6 / 10”) and the “Teacher’s comment”. The teacher’s points count instead of the automatic ones.

If your teacher fixes the rules and checks the uploads again, the upload is marked “Checked again with updated rules”, and its points may change.

The task’s status

• Full points mean the task is solved.
• With fewer points, the task is “Attempted”, and its status icon shows the share of points earned.
• Uploads also appear under the course’s Submissions, on My work and in the submission calendar. When a file is checked, a notification arrives in your inbox.

Only you and the course’s teachers see your uploaded files.

Related pages

• Problem page
• Submissions history
• Grades