How do you tell which setting your assignment uses?
Look at the Submission status after you add your work and click Save changes. It will read one of two Moodle 4.5 status names: “Submitted for grading” or “Draft (not submitted)”.
- Submitted for grading right after saving. The submit button setting is off. You can keep editing or remove the work while the assignment is open, unless your teacher locks it.
- Draft (not submitted). The setting is on: your work is saved, but you haven’t clicked Submit assignment yet. You can still change it, remove it or submit it.
- A Submit assignment button on the page is the other sign the setting is on.
What do Moodle’s submission statuses mean?
These are the status names in Moodle 4.5’s English language file, with what each one lets you do.
| Status | What it means | Can you change it? |
|---|---|---|
| No submission | Nothing saved yet, or you removed your submission. On your page the status reads “No submissions have been made yet.” | Yes, with Add submission, while the assignment is open. |
| Draft (not submitted) | Saved, but you haven’t clicked Submit assignment. | Yes: Edit submission, Remove submission or Submit assignment. |
| Submitted for grading | Handed in. | Only if the submit button setting is off. If it is on, your teacher has to revert it or allow another attempt. |
| Reopened | A new attempt was granted, by your teacher or automatically after grading. | Yes: Add a new attempt, or start from your previous one. |
How do you edit or remove a submission on Moodle?
From the assignment page, while it is still open. The button names come from Moodle 4.5’s code:
- Open the assignment from your course page.
- Click Edit submission.
- Delete or replace your file, or change your online text, then click Save changes.
- To clear the submission instead, click Remove submission. Moodle asks: “Are you sure you want to remove your submission?”
- If your assignment has a submit button, click Submit assignment when you are ready. Moodle warns: “Are you sure you want to submit your work for grading? You will not be able to make any more changes.”
Remove submission clears everything. In Moodle 4.5’s code it sets the status back to No submission, or Reopened if you are on a later attempt, and tells each submission type to drop its content, so your file and text go. On a timed assignment the prompt adds: “Please note that this will not reset your time limit.”
Can you unsubmit after clicking Submit assignment?
Not by yourself. Moodle’s help text for the Submit assignment button says “Once this assignment is submitted you will not be able to make any more changes.” Only your teacher can open it again. Other platforms differ. Canvas and Blackboard give students no unsubmit step (unsubmitting on Canvas, on Blackboard), and Schoology keeps every version you send (resubmitting on Schoology).
Your teacher has two ways to open it again:
- Revert the submission to draft. Moodle calls this action “Revert the submission to draft status.” Your work goes back to Draft (not submitted) and you can edit it.
- Allow another attempt. Only on assignments that allow more than one attempt. Moodle says “For each attempt, the grade and feedback are saved, and can be viewed by the teacher and the student.”
When you message your teacher, name the assignment and say what needs fixing, such as a wrong file. Ask before the cut-off date if there is one, or ask for an extension as well, because Moodle’s code only lets you edit after the cut-off date inside an extension.
How do you resubmit on Moodle?
If the submit button setting is off, resubmitting is just editing: Edit submission replaces your work while the assignment is open. Otherwise you need a new attempt. Allowed attempts is “The maximum number of submission attempts that can be made by a student. After this number has been reached, the submission can no longer be reopened.” Grant attempts decides how a new one opens:
| Grant attempts | What it does, in Moodle 4.5’s words where it has them |
|---|---|
| Never | No new attempts are granted. |
| Manually | “After each attempt, you can grant the next one through the Submissions page or the Grader page.” |
| Automatically | “After each attempt, the next is granted automatically after grading.” |
| Automatically until pass | “After each attempt, the next will be granted automatically after grading, until the student achieves the passing grade.” |
When a new attempt opens, your status reads Reopened and Moodle offers two buttons. Add a new attempt “will create a new blank submission for you to work on.” Add a new attempt based on previous submission “will copy the contents of your previous submission to a new submission for you to work on.” Quizzes work differently: a submitted quiz attempt can only be reviewed, and only when its review options allow (why Moodle says “Review not permitted”).
When does Moodle stop you from changing a submission?
Moodle 4.5’s code checks these before it lets you edit or remove your own submission:
- The cut-off date has passed. Moodle’s help text: “If set, submissions will not be accepted after this date without an extension.” An extension from your teacher can move that date for you.
- Your teacher locked it. Teachers can choose “Prevent submission changes” for one student or “Lock submissions” for several. Your page then says “This assignment is not accepting submissions.”
- You submitted with the submit button setting on.
- Your grade for the assignment is locked in the gradebook.
- The Allow submissions from date hasn’t arrived yet.
The due date is not on that list. Moodle’s help text for the due date says “Submissions will still be allowed after this date, but any assignments submitted after this date will be marked as late,” and Moodle’s code measures lateness from when the submission was last modified. An edit after the due date can turn an on-time submission into a late one.
How do you delete a Turnitin submission on Moodle?
Usually you can’t delete it yourself. What you can do depends on how your school connects Turnitin to Moodle:
- A Turnitin assignment (Moodle Direct V2). Turnitin’s student guide says “If resubmissions are allowed for the assignment and you need to resubmit your assignment, you can select the Submit Paper icon.” Some assignments let you overwrite the earlier paper until the due date. If not, “your instructor must manually delete your previous submission to allow you to submit a second time.” The resubmit icon is grayed out when resubmissions are off, or when the due date has passed and late submissions are off. On the teacher’s side, a trash can icon removes a submission from the assignment inbox.
- A Moodle assignment with the Turnitin plugin. You submit with Moodle’s own Add submission and Save changes, so the Moodle rules above decide whether you can edit or remove it.
- Removing it from Turnitin’s database. Turnitin says its support team “cannot process paper deletion requests.” For Moodle Direct V2 and the Moodle plugin, the Submission ID goes to your school’s Turnitin administrator, who deletes the paper. Ask your teacher to start that request.
Turnitin’s pages don’t say that removing a Moodle submission also removes the copy Turnitin stored, so ask your teacher if that matters to you.
Where Silent Student fits
We make Silent Student, a Mac and Windows desktop app from El Dorado Ignition LLC with a Moodle mode that works assignments through your own Moodle login. It reports an assignment as handed in only when Moodle says it is submitted, so a saved draft is never counted as handed in. Plans are $11.99, $24.99 or $49.99 a month with no free plan, and your school’s academic-integrity policy applies.
More: Silent Student on Moodle.
Questions people ask
Can you unsubmit an assignment on Moodle after submitting?
Only if the “Require students to click the submit button” setting is off. If it is on, a submitted assignment is locked and you must ask your teacher to revert it to draft.
Does removing a Moodle submission delete my file?
Yes. In Moodle 4.5’s code, Remove submission clears your file and text and sets the status back to No submission, or Reopened on a later attempt. Moodle asks you to confirm first.
Can I edit my Moodle submission after the due date?
Yes, until the cut-off date, if your submission is still editable. Moodle marks submissions after the due date as late and measures lateness from when you last changed it.
Why is there no Edit submission button on Moodle?
You submitted with the submit button setting on, the cut-off date passed, your teacher locked submissions, your grade is locked in the gradebook, or submissions haven’t opened yet.
How do I resubmit an assignment on Moodle?
If the submit button setting is off, edit your submission. Otherwise you need a new attempt: once one is granted, your status reads Reopened and you click Add a new attempt.
Can I delete a Turnitin submission on Moodle?
Usually not yourself. In Moodle Direct V2, Turnitin says that without resubmissions your instructor must delete your previous submission. Removing a paper from Turnitin’s database goes through your school’s Turnitin administrator.
Sources
All fetched and checked October 29, 2026 and again November 2, 2026, unless a line says otherwise.
- mod/assign/lang/en/assign.php (Moodle 4.5 English language strings on GitHub, MOODLE_405_STABLE branch)
- mod/assign/locallib.php (Moodle 4.5 code on GitHub: who can edit or remove a submission)
- user_submission_actionmenu.php (Moodle 4.5 code on GitHub: the student’s submission buttons)
- mod/assign/classes/output/renderer.php (Moodle 4.5 code on GitHub: how lateness is shown)
- Submitting to a Feedback Studio assignment in Moodle Direct V2 (Turnitin, student guide)
- Using the Assignment Dashboard in Moodle Direct V2 (Turnitin)
- Using the Assignment Inbox in Feedback Studio with Moodle Direct V2 (Turnitin, instructor guide)
- Submitting to an assignment using Moodle Plagiarism/Integrity Plugin (Turnitin, student guide)
- Can instructors permanently delete a paper stored in the Turnitin repository? (Turnitin help center)
How this guide was made. We read each Moodle and Turnitin page listed above on October 29, 2026 and quote them directly. Turnitin’s help pages blocked automated browsers that day, so we read the same articles through the help center’s public article feed. Button names and the edit and lateness rules come from the listed Moodle 4.5 code files. We wrote the guide with AI assistance and checked each quote against its source, then re-checked every quote against the live pages on November 2, 2026.
Related: Why does Moodle say “Review not permitted”? · Can you unsubmit an assignment on Canvas? · How do you unsubmit in Google Classroom? · Can you unsubmit on Blackboard? · Can you unsubmit on Schoology? · Moodle · Moodle grade calculator · All guides
Written by the company that makes Silent Student. Silent Student is not affiliated with or endorsed by Moodle Pty Ltd or Turnitin. Moodle is a trademark of Moodle Pty Ltd or its associated entities. Turnitin is a trademark of its owner.