Canvas tab switch test
Yes, Canvas can log a tab switch, but only as focus loss. When Quiz Log Auditing is on, the Classic quiz log writes “Stopped viewing the Canvas quiz-taking page”, then “Resumed”, each with a timestamp. It never records which tab, site or app you opened. Start the mock quiz below and switch tabs to see it live.
Practice quiz: tab switch test
This page acts like a Canvas quiz page. After you start, try any of these:
- switch to another tab, then come back
- click another window or app
- answer a question, then change the answer
- copy, paste or right-click
Now leave this tab for a few seconds (open a new tab, or click another app), then come back and check the log. On a phone, switch to another app and back.
- No entries yet. Press Start quiz to begin.
Status names from Instructure's quiz log guide for Classic Quizzes. The real Canvas screen looks different, and the “away” notes are ours: Canvas shows only the two times.
What Canvas would not record
This page counts some of these to show they happened. The Canvas quiz log has no line for any of them.
-
Where you went
Not known
This page only learns that it lost focus, and so does Canvas. Its
page_blurredevent has"event_data": null: no tab, site or app. - Copy and cut 0 seen here Not a quiz log status or an API event type.
- Paste 0 seen here No paste event. A pasted answer logs as “Answered a question”, like a typed one.
- Right-click Not one of the four log statuses.
- Keystrokes 0 seen here No keystroke record in the log, only the saved answer.
- Your extensions, screen and webcam Not in the log A web page cannot list your Chrome extensions, and the log holds no image or video.
Runs only in your browser. Your switches, answers and copies are never sent anywhere; the site counts one page view, as on every page.
How the Canvas tab switch test works
- Press Start quiz. The log shows the start time and “Viewed (and possibly read) a question”, the status Canvas uses while you are on the quiz page and have not answered yet.
- Answer question 1, then change your answer. Each change adds “Answered a question #1”. Instructure says repeats come from a changed answer or from autosave.
- Switch to another tab, click another app, or minimize the browser. The log adds “Stopped viewing the Canvas quiz-taking page” at that second.
- Come back. The log adds “Resumed”. The gap between the two times is all the pair tells a teacher.
- Copy the question, paste into question 2, right-click. The counters go up, and the quiz log gets no new line.
The test listens to the same browser signals a quiz page can use: the page losing focus (the blur event) and the page being hidden (the visibilitychange event, which fires when you switch tabs, minimize the browser, or switch apps on a phone). Closing the quiz tab also writes a “Stopped viewing” line in Canvas; this test cannot show that one, because closing the tab closes the test too.
What Canvas would record
The Classic Quizzes log is a list of timestamped statuses. Per Instructure's quiz log guide, there are four:
| Log line | When Canvas writes it |
|---|---|
| Viewed (and possibly read) a question | You are active on the quiz page and have not answered the question. |
| Answered a question | You answer. A second line for the same question means you changed the answer, or autosave wrote it. |
| Stopped viewing the Canvas quiz-taking page | You navigate away from the quiz: close the tab, open a new tab, or move to a different program. |
| Resumed | You return to the quiz. |
Four conditions around it, all from the same guide. “Quiz Log Auditing is currently a course opt-in feature”, so a Classic quiz has a log only when the course turned it on. Quiz logs are kept for six months. The instructor opens the log by hand, one student at a time; Instructure documents no alert when you leave. And Instructure says quiz logs “are not intended to validate academic integrity or identify cheating”.
Behind the log, the
Quiz Submission Events API
stores the pair as page_blurred and page_focused, and Instructure's example shows
both with "event_data": null. A focus event is a type and a time, nothing more. For every line
in detail, read our Canvas quiz log guide and what
“Stopped viewing” means.
What Canvas cannot see
| Item | In the quiz log? |
|---|---|
| Which tab, site or app you opened | No. Only the focus change, with no destination. |
| Why focus moved | No. A notification and a search write the same line. |
| Copy, paste and right-click | No. No Instructure guide describes clipboard or right-click logging (see can Canvas detect copy and paste). |
| Keystrokes | No. The log holds the saved answer, not how you typed it. |
| Your screen or webcam | No. That takes a proctoring tool your school adds. |
| Your Chrome extensions | No. Extensions run in an isolated world, and the log has no field for them. |
Proctored exams are different. Respondus LockDown Browser disables task switching, and Honorlock can close tabs and detect window resizing; there, the question is not what gets logged but what is allowed. Our guide to how Canvas detects tab switching covers split screen, phones and both proctoring tools.
Classic Quizzes vs New Quizzes
The test above follows the Classic log, because Instructure publishes its exact status names. New Quizzes logs the same kind of thing in its own format.
| Item | Classic Quizzes | New Quizzes |
|---|---|---|
| Where the log opens | Show Student Quiz Results, then View Log | Moderate page, then View Log |
| Leaving the page | Stopped viewing, then Resumed | “Moments of stopping and resuming the quiz” |
| Timing | A timestamp on each line | Start, finish and the time elapsed during each event |
| Turned on by | Course opt-in (Quiz Log Auditing) | No opt-in described |
| Several devices or browsers | Not described | Recorded only with Detect Multiple Sessions on; you get a notice, and only admins see the details |
| Which tab or site | Not recorded | Not recorded |
| Student can view it | No student view documented | No student view documented |
Sources: the Moderate page guide, the New Quizzes settings guide and the multi-session details guide. New Quizzes can also show the client IP address to admins and roles with the view IP address permission.
Is there a 15 second rule?
Not in Instructure's documentation. The quiz log guide defines “Stopped viewing” by what you do, not by how long, and the API reference mentions no delay. The 15 and 30 second figures come from an Instructure Community forum answer, which says the entry “can occur” after those times, not that shorter gaps go unrecorded. So this test writes a line for every switch, however short. Plan for that.
Leaving the tab is the thing that gets logged
Every line this test writes about you leaving comes from one action: the quiz page losing focus. Looking up an answer is the usual reason people leave. Canvas Quiz Solver is a Chrome extension that puts the answer right below the question, inside the Canvas quiz page. You do not open a second tab, you do not copy the question into ChatGPT, and you do not switch windows, so there is no page switch for the quiz log to record.
It works on Classic Quizzes and New Quizzes, and you can start free. AI answers can be wrong, so check them against your course material. It does not run inside LockDown Browser, and Honorlock can turn Chrome extensions off during a proctored exam.
Common questions
Can Canvas tell if you switch tabs during a quiz?
Yes, as focus loss. When Quiz Log Auditing is on for the course, the Classic quiz log writes "Stopped viewing the Canvas quiz-taking page" when you open a new tab, close the tab or move to a different program, and "Resumed" when you come back, each with a timestamp. New Quizzes has its own log that shows moments of stopping and resuming the quiz.
Can Canvas see which tab or website I switched to?
No. The log line has a status and a time, nothing else. In the Canvas API the event is page_blurred, and Instructure's example shows its event_data as null: no tab title, no web address and no app name. This test shows the same limit, because a web page only learns that it lost focus.
Does the Canvas quiz log record copy, paste or right-click?
No. They are not among the four quiz log statuses or the event types in the Quiz Submission Events API, and no Instructure guide describes clipboard or right-click logging. Leaving the quiz page to copy something is different: that trip writes Stopped viewing and then Resumed.
Is there a 15 second rule for tab switching on Canvas?
Not in Instructure's documentation. The quiz log guide gives no minimum time, and the 15 and 30 second figures come from an Instructure Community forum answer. This test writes a line for every switch, however short, which is the safe way to read the rule.
Does New Quizzes log tab switching too?
Yes. The instructor opens View Log from the New Quizzes Moderate page, and Instructure says it shows each event, the time elapsed and moments of stopping and resuming the quiz. Like the Classic log, it names no destination. Instructure documents no student view of either log.
Does Canvas alert my teacher when I leave the quiz?
Instructure documents no alert. The instructor opens the log by hand, one student at a time. A tab switch shows up only if someone opens that log, and Canvas keeps quiz logs for six months.
Does this test send what I do anywhere?
No. The test runs in your browser and keeps nothing: the log is gone when you reload or close the page. Like every page on this site, it counts one page view; your tab switches, answers and copies are never sent.
Sources, checked 2026-10-09
- How do I view a quiz log for a student? (Instructure Community)
- How do I use the Moderate page in New Quizzes? (Instructure Community)
- How do I view multi-session details in New Quizzes as an admin? (Instructure Community)
- How do I manage settings for a quiz in New Quizzes? (Instructure Community)
- Quiz Submission Events (Canvas LMS REST API)
- Can “Stopped viewing the Canvas quiz-taking page” in the quiz log reveal cheating? (Instructure Community forum thread, not documentation)
- Document: visibilitychange event and Window: blur event (MDN Web Docs)
- Content scripts (Chrome for Developers)
Answers inside the quiz page
Canvas Quiz Solver shows the answer right below each question inside your Canvas quiz, so you never switch tabs to look it up. Start free.
Add to Chrome - free