How to use GradeForge

From a blank machine to a working, connected classroom in about fifteen minutes. You do not need to be technical, and you cannot break anything by clicking around.

On this page Get GradeForge First few minutes Find your way around Connect Google Optional AI Golden rules What each part does

1. Get GradeForge (buy, download, install)

Buy your licence. Go to gradeforge.co.uk and buy GradeForge: a one-off £30 per teacher, yours to keep, with no subscription. Schools can buy a site licence by invoice. (If your school gave you the installer, skip to installing.)
Download it. After buying you land on a welcome page with a Download button; you can also download from gradeforge.co.uk any time. The file is named like GradeForge-1.0.0-setup.exe.
Install it. Double-click the installer. Windows may show a blue "Windows protected your PC" box because it is not yet certificate-signed. Click More info, then Run anyway — this is expected and safe. GradeForge opens and adds Start-menu and desktop shortcuts.

Future versions update themselves through the built-in update channel, so you install once and keep your copy.

2. Your first few minutes

Pick your language. Open Settings (the cog at the bottom of the left sidebar) and choose Cymraeg or English. You can switch any time, even mid-lesson.
Add your first class. Class screens sit behind a class. Use the class panel near the top of those screens to create a class with a name, subject and year group.
Add your pupils. Open Classes > Students and add pupils, typing them in or pasting a list. That is the minimum: you can now take a register, build a markbook column, plan a lesson or record feedback.

3. Find your way around

The left sidebar moves you between every part of GradeForge, grouped so related tools sit together:

Primary: Today, Workload, Form Time, Lesson Diary, Schemes, Timetable, Calendar.
Assess: Gradebook, Attendance, Assessments, AI Batch Mark, Oracy, QLA, Exam Season and more.
Classes: Students, Seating Plans, Rewards, Pupil Support.
Plan: Resources, Quizzes, Homework, Teaching Library, Toolkit, Notes.
Insights: Overview, Progress, Reports, Book Samples, Report Writer, Analytics, Frameworks.

Fastest of all: press Ctrl + K anywhere to open the command palette, type where you want to be (e.g. "seating", "report"), and press Enter.

4. Connecting Google (optional)

Linking your own Google account lets you import Google Classroom classes and pupils, post assignments, push grades back, pull in work to mark, and sync across your own devices. It is optional: the whole app works without it.

Open Settings, find the Google section, and click Sign in with Google. There is nothing to set up first — just sign in.
Your browser opens Google's own sign-in. Choose your school or work account and approve. GradeForge only acts on your behalf, through your account; nothing is stored on a GradeForge server.
A note for launch: while Google finishes verifying the app you may see "Google hasn't verified this app". Click Advanced, then Go to GradeForge. This is safe, your data stays on your device, and the screen disappears once verification completes.

Reading a pupil's work: when you mark a pupil's Classroom submission, GradeForge opens Google's own "Select pupil work" window so you pick the file. For a whole class, select them all in one pass. It only ever sees the files you pick.

5. Turning on the optional AI

GradeForge works fully without AI. If you switch it on in Settings (adding your own AI provider and key), helpers appear for drafting feedback, marking against a scheme, writing report comments and more.

Before any AI request involving pupils, GradeForge replaces pupil names with stand-in labels ("PII-shielded"), sends only that, and restores the real names on your machine. A "what was sent" panel shows exactly what left the device, and you approve every AI mark or draft.

6. The golden rules

Your data lives on your machine, encrypted. Nothing is sent anywhere unless you press a Google button or an AI button.
Your work saves as you go — there is no save button. GradeForge also keeps snapshots and can recover after a crash.
To move to another machine, or just to be safe, take a backup.
If a screen looks empty, check you have a class selected in the class panel.

7. What each part does

A quick map of the main areas. Every one is bilingual and works offline.

Markbook & assessment — formula columns, QLA, flightpaths, fast whole-class marking, rubrics, OMR.

Feedback Studio — screen, voice, webcam and typed feedback; annotate PDFs; post to Classroom.

AI marking — mark open answers against your schemes, in Welsh or English, PII-shielded.

Planning & CfW — diary, schemes, AI lessons, full Curriculum for Wales, LNF & DCF.

Resource Engine — 42 resource types, export to PDF, PowerPoint, Word or Google Form.

Classroom Toolkit — 47 in-lesson tools plus a 16-tool Mathematics suite.

Pastoral & reporting — seating plans, rewards, attendance, reports, progress and flightpaths.

Sync & backup — encrypted sync through your own Drive, snapshots and portable backups.

The full manual

This page is the quick start. The complete step-by-step manual covers every function across 20 chapters and is handed to you (or your school) as a Word document with your copy of GradeForge. Need a hand? Email hello@gradeforge.co.uk.