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Seeing your Students' Paste History

See what a student pasted into a message while they were writing it, so you know when work has come in from somewhere else.

Updated October 13, 2026

Flint records the text a student pastes into a message while they are writing it. If you own the activity, you can read that record on any of their messages in a session — useful for spotting when an answer has arrived from somewhere outside the conversation, and for deciding who needs a one-to-one.

How to see it

The walkthrough below opens a learner's message and reviews the recorded paste entries.

  1. Open the activity, then open the student's session.
  2. Hover over one of the student's messages. A small row of icons appears at its bottom edge.
  3. Click the history icon — hovering it shows Show pasted text.
  4. The Paste History panel opens, listing each paste with how long ago it happened and the text that was pasted.

Watch: Read a learner message’s paste history

If no pastes were recorded for the message, the panel says "The student has not pasted anything when writing this message."

Good to know

  • The icon appears on user-authored messages, not on Sparky's replies.
  • People who can edit the activity can see paste history, including students who created or can edit that activity. Students with only Can participate do not see the icon, even on their own messages.
  • The record is per message, so check the message you are curious about rather than the session as a whole.