Using Your GradeBook

This guide covers how to work directly with your GradeBook—adding students, entering grades, configuring settings, and more. These tasks are done by editing cells in your GradeBook rather than through menu items.

Settings Sheet

Your GradeBook includes a Settings sheet (tab at the bottom of the spreadsheet) where you can configure various options:

Letter/Level Grade Ranges: Set the percentage ranges for each letter grade (A, B, C, etc.) or level grade
Category Names: For Category Weighting GradeBooks, define your category names here
Term Names: For GradeBooks with terms, define your term names here

Changes to the Settings sheet take effect immediately. Make sure to review your settings before generating reports.

Adding Student and Parent/Guardian Information

You can add students to your GradeBook manually or by importing from Google Classroom.

Manual Entry

Start entering student names in column B, under the Students section
Optional: Enter student numbers in column C
From the menu: Extensions → GradeBook → Views and Sorting
Select View Student Emails to access email and phone number columns
Enter student emails and parent/guardian emails and mobile phone numbers

How to Enter Emails and Mobile Phone Numbers

Here are examples of how to enter contact information:

Example	Student Email	Parent Email and/or Mobile Phone Number
1 email	student1@gmail.com	parent1@gmail.com
Multiple emails	student1@gmail.com	parent1@gmail.com, parent2@gmail.com
Email and Mobile #	student1@gmail.com	parent1@gmail.com [555-555-5555]
Multiple emails and Mobile #’s	student1@gmail.com	parent1@gmail.com, parent2@gmail.com [555-555-5555, 222-222-2222]

Sending text messages requires text message credits. See Text Messages for more information.

Google Classroom Import

For automatic import of student information, see Import from Google Classroom. Student names, photos, emails, and assignments will import automatically.

Adding Assignments

Manual Entry

From the menu: Extensions → GradeBook → Views and Sorting
Select View Evaluations
Enter your assignment information in the header row
Enter student grades for each assignment

Google Classroom Import

When you import from Google Classroom, all assignments are automatically imported along with grades.

Entering Grades

Understanding how grade values affect calculations:

Entry	Meaning	Effect on Final Grade
Empty (blank)	Student did not hand in the assignment	No effect on final grade
Zero (0)	Student received a zero or does not plan to submit	Affects final grade
E	Student is exempted from the assignment	No effect on final grade

Modified Curriculum (Override Assignment Totals)

For students on a modified or accommodated curriculum, you can override the total marks for an individual student’s assignment.

Example: An assignment is worth 50 marks, but a student with modifications only has 40 questions. The student received 32 out of their 40 marks.

To enter this in GradeBook, type: 32 [40]

GradeBook will calculate the correct percentage (80%) for this student while other students remain graded out of 50.

Adding Overall Student Comments

From the menu: Extensions → GradeBook → Views and Sorting
Select View Student Comments
Enter anecdotal comments about each student

These comments will appear on all reports, including those emailed to students and parents.

Adding Comments for a Specific Assignment

Click on a grade cell for a student’s assignment
From the menu: Insert → Note (or press Shift + F2)
Enter a brief note relating to this specific assignment

Keep notes brief as they will appear on student reports.

Overriding Grades

Sometimes you want a different grade to appear on reports (bump up or down):

From the menu: Extensions → GradeBook → Views and Sorting
Select the Override Grades view
Enter the new grade in the override column for the student

To have override grades appear on reports, select Yes for the override grades option when generating reports.

Email Settings

Customize the email message that is sent with reports:

Click the Email Message tab at the bottom of your GradeBook
The email message can contain a maximum of 5 lines (cells B7:B11)
Use the tags in column F to insert specific data into the email message

Available Email Tags

Tag	Description
`<<student>>`	Inserts the student’s name
`<<course>>`	Inserts the course name
`<<grade>>`	Inserts the student’s current grade
`<<teacher>>`	Inserts the teacher’s name

Text Messages (US/Canada Only)

Important Information:

Only text messages to valid US and Canadian mobile phone numbers will be delivered

Sending text messages requires text message credits

Your phone number will not be used when sending text messages

Sending Text Messages

From the menu: Extensions → GradeBook → Reports → Send Reports
Optional: Click the link to customize your text message
Review the list of phone numbers that will receive messages
Click SEND REPORTS to send the grade updates
The sentTexts tab at the bottom of GradeBook will record all texts sent

Canadian Users

Due to additional fees imposed by Canadian telecommunication companies, sending text messages to Canada costs more:

Sending 1 text message to Canada will deduct 3 text message credits from your account.

Text Message Settings

Customize the text message content:

Click the Text Message tab at the bottom of your GradeBook
The text message can contain a maximum of 160 characters
Use the tags in column F to insert specific data into the message

Available Text Message Tags

Tag	Description
`<<student>>`	Inserts the student’s name
`<<course>>`	Inserts the course name
`<<grade>>`	Inserts the student’s current grade

Keep your message brief—text messages are limited to 160 characters.

Percent, Letter, and Level Grades

GradeBook supports multiple grade display formats:

Display in GradeBook: Grades can appear as a percent or letter/level
Display in Reports: Choose percent, letter/level, or both when generating reports
Configure Ranges: Set the range for each letter/level in the Settings tab

For menu-based features like importing from Google Classroom, generating reports, or managing views, see the Features documentation.