Inline Grading - Frequently Asked Questions

Why am I prompted to download the student's file instead of viewing and annotating it?New

It is likely that the student attached a file that isn't compatible with Bb Annotate. Supported file types include: 

  • Microsoft® Word (DOC, DOCX)
  • Microsoft® PowerPoint®(PPT, PPTX)
  • Microsoft® Excel®(XLS, XLSX)
  • OpenOffice® Documents (ODS, ODT, ODP)
  • Digital Images (JPEG, JPG, PNG, TIF, TIFF, TGA, BMP, HEIC)
  • Source code (Java, PY, C, CPP, etc)
  • Medical Images (DICOM, DICM, DCM)
  • PDF
  • PSD
  • RTF
  • TXT
  • WPD

You may need to switch to a compatible browser. Bb Annotate is supported on current versions of Firefox, Chrome, Edge, and Safari.

I can see my student's submission, but why can't I add any comments to it?Updated

This is often because the student typed their submission directly in Blackboard, or copied and pasted their submission from another file into the text editor. Unfortunately, you cannot annotate on these types of submissions. Instead, you can add your comments in the Feedback to Learner field in the grading toolbar to the right.

If you want to annotate over the student's submission, they must attach their submission as a file. These file types are supproted:

  • Microsoft® Word (DOC, DOCX)
  • Microsoft® PowerPoint®(PPT, PPTX)
  • Microsoft® Excel®(XLS, XLSX)
  • OpenOffice® Documents (ODS, ODT, ODP)
  • Digital Images (JPEG, JPG, PNG, TIF, TIFF, TGA, BMP, HEIC)
  • Source code (Java, PY, C, CPP, etc)
  • Medical Images (DICOM, DICM, DCM)
  • PDF
  • PSD
  • RTF
  • TXT
  • WPD

 

Why can't I see all of the tools in the Bb Annotate toolbar?New
As part of the responsive design, the Bb Annotate toolbar display changes based on the screen size. On medium and small screens, the Document View settings display the page number you're viewing. Annotation tools are stacked under the View Annotation Tools icon. On small screens, the Content Library is hidden.

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