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Add a course from your syllabus
Upload a syllabus and CourseCadence builds the course for you.
When you upload a syllabus, CourseCadence reads it and adds the course, its class times, and its graded items (assignments, quizzes, tests, and exams) to your calendar. There's no review screen: anything the syllabus doesn't make clear becomes a follow-up, a short item you check later on the Follow-ups page (see Resolve your follow-ups). If you don't have a syllabus yet, add a course by hand instead.
Upload a syllabus
You can upload a PDF, a Word file (.doc or .docx), a text file (.txt), or a photo (.png, .jpg, .jpeg, .gif, or .webp). Each file can be up to 25 MB. If your syllabus is split across several files, upload them together: they make one course.
In the web app, click Courses. If you don't have any courses yet, you can also start from the Add your first course card on your Dashboard.
Click Upload syllabus, or drag your files onto Drop your syllabus here.
Select one or more files for the same course, then open them.
CourseCadence shows its progress while it works: Uploading your file, Reading your syllabus, then Adding your course to the calendar. Keep the page open until it finishes.
If A few questions about your course opens, answer each question, then click Add course.
CourseCadence asks only when the syllabus is missing something it needs: the Course name, the School, the First day of class, or the Last day of class. Click Cancel to stop without adding the course.
The course page opens with Added to your calendar at the top and a Course added message with Undo. The course appears on your calendar and under Your courses on the Courses page. If the syllabus left anything unclear, the course card shows how many follow-ups it has.
Note: If you upload a syllabus for a course you already have (same course name or code, in the same term), CourseCadence updates that course instead of adding a second one. See Upload a new copy of a syllabus.
Undo a course you just added
The Course added message stays on the course page for a few seconds after the course is created.
- Click Undo in the Course added message.
CourseCadence removes the course and everything it added to your calendar, and you go back to the Courses page.
Upload a new copy of a syllabus
Use this when your instructor sends an updated syllabus, or to add another course without going back to the Courses page.
- On a course page, click Upload another syllabus. The button is also on the Follow-ups page.
- Select one or more files, then open them.
If the syllabus matches a course you already have (same course name or code, and the terms overlap), that course is updated. The course page shows Updated from a new copy of your syllabus, a What changed section, and a Course updated message with Undo. Click Undo to put the course back the way it was.
If it doesn't match a course you have, CourseCadence adds it as a new course, the same way as Upload a syllabus.
Fix an upload problem
If something goes wrong, CourseCadence tells you before it adds anything.
- Please upload PDF, Word, text, or image files.: one of the files isn't a type CourseCadence can read. Save it as a PDF or take a photo of it, then upload it again.
- “[file name]” must be under 25 MB.: the file is too large. Upload a smaller copy, such as a PDF export or a photo of each page.
- Upload didn’t finish: the file didn't reach CourseCadence, usually because of the connection. Click Try again to send the same files, or Choose another file.
- We couldn’t read this syllabus: CourseCadence couldn't find a course name, dates, or class times in the file. Blurry photos and small scanned text often cause this. Click Try another file and use the PDF from your course site or a sharper photo of each page, or click Add course manually to add the course by hand.
- This doesn’t look like a syllabus: the file reads like another kind of document. Click Choose another file to upload the syllabus, or click Use this file anyway to add the course with whatever CourseCadence can find. Anything missing becomes a follow-up.
- All the dates in this syllabus have passed: every date in the file is in the past, so nothing was added. Click Use a different syllabus to upload this term's copy. If the dates were read wrong, click These dates are wrong, choose the first day of class, and click Add course. CourseCadence moves every date to fit.