Naming files so a bulk upload separates students correctly

Uploading a whole class at once is the fastest way to grade — and the one place a little preparation pays off. When each student has several pages, SuperGrader has to know which pages belong together. It works that out from folders and file names, so how you name things decides how well it separates students.

Option 1: one file per student

The most reliable. Save or scan each student's work as a single PDF or document. One file, one student, no ambiguity. Most copiers can do this from the glass: scan the stapled pages as one PDF, then start the next student.

Option 2: a folder per student

Make a folder for each student, drop their pages in it, and ZIP the folders. The folder name becomes the student name and everything inside it is one paper. This is also exactly what Google Classroom's "Download all submissions" produces, so a Classroom export uploads and separates automatically.

Option 3: name the files by student

For a flat pile of photos, name them by student with a page number: maria-1.jpg, maria-2.jpg, jordan-1.jpg. Pages are grouped by the name before the number. Spaces, underscores, dashes and "page 2" or "p2" all work.

What cannot be separated by name

A pile of identically named scans — scan001, scan002, IMG_4021 — carries no student information, and no tool can separate it by name. For those, set "Pages per student" on the upload screen and keep the pile in order: the grader cuts the sequence into papers of that length.

You always see the grouping first

Whichever route you take, the proposed grouping appears before anything is graded. You can rename a student, move a page from one student to another, or split a group — and no credit is spent until you confirm. If the names did not tell the students apart, the screen says so rather than quietly grading the whole pile as one student.