What Is My Turnitin Submission ID (Paper ID) and Where Do I Find It?

Your Submission ID — also called the Paper ID — is the unique identifier Turnitin assigns to every submitted paper. You can find it in three places: the PAPER ID column in an assignment inbox, the document information panel in Feedback Studio (listed as Submission ID), and the digital receipt you get when a submission succeeds. The receipt is worth keeping: Turnitin's help center recommends downloading and saving it for every submission, because it is the number support needs to trace a paper that vanished.

Turnitin's official page, "Finding a Turnitin paper ID," defines it:

"Turnitin paper IDs are created when papers are submitted to Turnitin, and act as unique identifiers."

"There are three ways to locate a paper ID in Turnitin:"

The same page clarifies the naming:

"The paper ID (referred to as Submission ID) can be found at the top of this list of items."

The name depends on where you look, not on the ID itself. Some screens say Paper ID, some say Submission ID — students searching for one name while their screen shows the other is a common source of confusion.

The same official page gives the three locations:

"In any assignment inbox of your Turnitin account, you'll find the paper ID for each student submission in the PAPER ID column."

"If you're accessing Turnitin through a Learning Management System (LMS), the paper ID can be found in the Feedback Studio."

"Select the information icon at the bottom of the Feedback Studio toolbar to view the paper information. The paper ID (referred to as Submission ID) can be found at the top of this list of items."

"You can also find the Turnitin paper ID in the digital receipt."

"From the Feedback Studio toolbar, select the download icon. Select Digital Receipt to download it as a PDF. You can find the paper ID in this document."

University guides add where the ID sits inside the receipt: Dundee's guide says the paper ID / Submission ID "can be found at the bottom of the text, above the preview of your document."

Turnitin's help center page, "My submission is missing," explains the receipt's role:

"When you successfully submit a paper to Turnitin, the system generates a digital receipt containing a unique submission ID."

"We highly recommend downloading and saving this receipt for every submission."

"If your paper disappears from view and your instructor cannot locate it, the Turnitin Technical Support team will require your Turnitin submission ID to help trace the missing file."

Dundee's LibGuide describes the same from the student side:

"When you submit an assessment, you will receive a digital receipt. This confirms that you have successfully submitted your work and includes other important information worth keeping such as your submission ID and the date and time."

"Not only does a digital receipt give you peace of mind that you have submitted your work, but it is useful to have for the rare occasion that something goes wrong and a staff member needs to locate your submission."

The anonymous-submission detail is worth knowing: "Knowing the paper ID is key to the process, particularly as most work is submitted anonymously." When grading is anonymous, the paper ID is one of the few ways anyone can connect a submission to the right student — which is exactly when losing the receipt hurts.

The receipt is not a one-time artifact. University LTI guides describe re-downloading it:

• Reading: "Download the digital receipt from the success banner when you submit to Turnitin or after the fact via the submission point." Inside Feedback Studio, "the receipt can also be downloaded from the right hand panel."
• Southampton: selecting the notepad icon beside your submission "will download a digital receipt for your paper."
• Turnitin's classic student FAQ (still live): "When you successfully submit a paper, your confirmation screen contains your digital receipt. The digital receipt is also automatically emailed to you at this time." If the email is not in your inbox, the FAQ says to check the spam/bulk folder.

So the workflow is: download at submission (success banner), keep the file, and if you did not, every LMS path leads back to the same panel where you can re-download it.

Turnitin's help center ties the receipt to submission success:

"If you didn't receive a confirmation or digital receipt, you may have missed the final validation step during the upload process. If the upload is interrupted or incomplete, the paper won't reach our servers."

The classic FAQ states the same rule for the confirmation screen:

"If you do not receive this confirmation message it is an indication that your paper has not been submitted properly."

So a missing receipt is a diagnostic signal, not just an inconvenience: no receipt usually means the submission did not finish, and the first recommended action is to resubmit (or contact the instructor if the deadline has passed).

Every Turnitin submission has one unique ID, called Paper ID in inboxes and Submission ID in Feedback Studio and the receipt. Three places to find it: the PAPER ID column, the information panel (top of the list), and the digital receipt. Keep the receipt — it is your proof of submission, it carries the date/time and the ID, and it is the number support requests if a paper disappears. Anonymous marking makes the ID even more important, because it is one of the only ways a submission can be traced. If you never got a receipt, treat it as a sign the upload may not have completed — resubmit before relying on it.