Deleting a submission FAQ – Turnitin Guides

In this guide:

Standard Assignments
Turnitin Clarity's Student Writing assignment

Standard Assignments

Can we request deletions by contacting Turnitin's Support team?

Deletions are managed by the institution’s account administrator.

Administrators have a submission management tool to action deletions without the need for instructor requests to be enabled or you do not use Turnitin via the website or through an LTI integration.

Who can access Turnitin's self-service submission deletions?

Instructors can send deletion requests from their assignments when using the Turnitin website or any LTI integration. If you do not use Turnitin assignments via the Turnitin website or LTI integration, instructors can manually provide their administrators with the submission ID.

All administrators can access the submission management feature within their Turnitin account and can delete a submission without the need for an instructor to follow Turnitin’s request process.

Check out our guidance for the instructor’s process for requesting a deletion and our administrators guidance for managing submissions.

What happens to the submission once a request has been sent?

This behaviour differs depending on which assignment you have requested the deletion from.

For the classic version of the Standard Assignment, the submission will still be accessible in the assignment. An icon will be shown to indicate the submission is pending deletion. If approved, the submission will be removed from view and fully deleted from Turnitin.

For the new version of the Standard Assignment, the submission is hidden in the assignment from the instructor and student. If the request is rejected, the submission will return. If approved, the submission will change from a hidden status to fully deleted and cannot be recovered.

What happens if an administrator approves the deletion?

If the deletion request is approved:

The submission will be removed from the instructor’s and student’s assignment.
All reports and any associated grading will be deleted.
The submission will not appear as a match to any future submissions.

Can the deleted submission be recovered?

No, deletions are permanent and cannot be recovered. If the instructor or student has access to the original file, it can be resubmitted to the assignment.

Can administrators turn off the deletion request functionality?

Yes, the deletion request process can be disabled at any time. Check out our guidance on how to manage the deletion request setting.

A submission was removed from a classic assignment but it still needs to be deleted from the repository.

If you had taken note of the submission ID or are able to retrieve it from the student’s digital receipt email, contact your account administrator and they can delete it using their submission management tool.

If you do not have the submission ID, contact our Turnitin Support team and provide them with the class name, student’s name, and student’s email address.

Because a user's personally identifiable information may be spread across multiple assignments, classes, and even accounts, proper precautions need to be taken for these types of requests. Please contact legal@turnitin.com with any questions.

Turnitin Clarity's Student Writing assignment

Can we contact Turnitin Support to request composition and submission deletions for Turnitin Clarity’s Student Writing assignment?

No. All composition and submission deletions are managed by your institution’s account administrator, not Turnitin Support.

Will students lose access to their composition if a submission is deleted?

No. Deleting a submission does not remove the student’s access to their composition. They can continue viewing and working on it (if the deadline has not passed.)

Are student compositions within Turnitin Clarity added to the Turnitin repository?

No. Compositions themselves are not added to the repository. However, once submitted, the document follows the repository setting chosen by the instructor when creating the assignment.

Can I use the Request deletion option in the Submission list for Student Writing assignments?

Not at this time. Deletion requests must be submitted manually. Instructors can copy the composition and submission IDs from the Submission list and send them to their administrator.