Plenty of professors put the whole semester's schedule in the syllabus and never set those dates up in Canvas. Secretariat reads each class's syllabus and puts every dated exam, quiz, paper and problem set on your list and calendar, so the dates that only live in a PDF still show up on the right day.
The problem with syllabus dates
A syllabus is often the only place an exam date, a reading quiz or a paper deadline is written down. Canvas and any calendar fed from it only know what the professor entered in Canvas.
Copying every date from five syllabi by hand takes an afternoon, and one typo puts an exam on the wrong day.
How Secretariat reads a syllabus
- It finds each class's syllabus on Canvas. If your class isn't on Canvas, or your school turned Canvas tokens off, upload the syllabus in Settings, Your classes. Only its text is kept, never the file.
- It lists every dated thing the syllabus says is due or happening: exams, quizzes, papers, projects, presentations, problem sets, homework and labs.
- Every date has to be written in the syllabus right where it says, or it's dropped. Nothing is guessed from "Week 5" or a weekday.
- Scanned PDFs get their text copied out first, so their dates can be read too.
- Anything Canvas or your calendar already has isn't added twice. A syllabus to-do steps aside once Canvas posts the real assignment.
- When the syllabus and Canvas disagree on a date, the syllabus wins, with a few safety exceptions explained on when Canvas has the wrong date.
Limits and plans
- Free reads each class's syllabus once a semester. Student Pro reads it again every time it's updated.
- Reading the dates out of a syllabus uses a small AI model once per version of the syllabus. Matching those dates to Canvas is plain rules, no AI.
- No syllabus on Canvas? If a classmate in the exact same course uploaded theirs, its dates are offered to you, one tap to add. Only the dated items are shared, never the file or who shared it.
- Student Pro can also answer questions about a class from its syllabus, like office hours, the late policy and exam dates.
Getting started
Make an account and connect Canvas, or upload a syllabus for a class that isn't on Canvas. The dates show up on your list and in the week view. If you'd rather see them in Google Calendar, you can send your list there as its own calendar.
Common questions
- Does it work if my syllabus is a scanned PDF?
- Yes. Secretariat copies the text out of a scanned PDF before it reads the dates.
- What if the syllabus only says "Week 7" for an exam?
- It won't guess a day from a week number or a weekday. Only dates written in the syllabus go on your list, so you'd add that one yourself.
- Will it add the same assignment twice if Canvas has it too?
- No. If Canvas or your calendar already has it, the syllabus copy isn't added, and a syllabus to-do steps aside once Canvas posts the real one.
- Is the syllabus file stored?
- For an uploaded syllabus, only its text is kept, never the file. Classmates only ever see the dated items from a shared syllabus, never the file or your name.