Assignment Annotations

Assignment Annotations make it possible for teachers to leave various types of feedback on files that students submit with assignments. Files can be annotated in the browser without needing to print or download, and students are able to immediately view annotations added to their submitted files.

Check out the annotation tool in this video.

Before annotating, teachers must first allow file submissions for the assignments they want to annotate by enabling In-system Submission in the assignment settings. For more information on assignment settings, see Assignments .

Once students submit their files, teachers can view and annotate the submissions by going to Assignment Details, selecting a student, then selecting their file upload under Submitted files. The file and the annotation tools will open in the browser and can be expanded by selecting Full screen.

Warning: If a file was previously annotated with the old annotation tool (available before July 2022), opening the file in the new tool will remove the old annotations and they cannot be recovered. Teachers will need to recreate the annotations in the new tool.

Teachers have several tools available when annotating assignments. Many tools include options to customize the color, opacity, line thickness, and more.

Warning: Keep in mind, students can immediately view annotations added to their submitted files.

Draw and Highlight tools

  • Drawing: Select to draw freeform annotations in the file.

  • Freeform Highlight: Select to highlight any content in the file.

  • Text Highlighter: Select to highlight text only in the file.

    Tip: To highlight text and comment on the highlighted information, use Text Highlighter in combination with the Note or Text tool.

  • Eraser: Select to erase any Drawing or Freeform Highlight annotations. Drag the eraser over these annotations to delete them.

    Tip: To delete any annotation, first select the background around the file so no annotation tool is selected. Then select the annotation you want to remove and select Delete.

Image tools

Teachers can add images or stamps as annotations.

  • Image: Teachers can select this tool to add an image from their computer the assignment submission.

  • Stamp: Teachers can add an existing or custom stamp to the file. Select Custom Stamp to create a stamp with custom text in a chosen color.

Note and Text

Teachers can add text comments throughout a file submission with the Note and Text tools

  • Note: Select to add comments that students view by hovering over a Note icon.

  • Text: Select to add comments that display persistently in the file submission. Unlike a Note, students do not need to hover over Text to view the comment.

Other annotation tools

  • Lines and shapes: Includes arrows, rectangles, polygons, etc.

  • Print: Select to print the file with annotations.

  • Search

  • Download: Select to download the file with annotations.

Assignment Annotation supports the following document and image file extensions.

Documents:

  • .pdf

  • .doc

  • .docx

  • .pps

  • .ptt

  • .pptx

  • ppsx

  • .xlsx

  • .xls

Images:

  • .jpg

  • .jpeg

  • .png

  • .tiff

Student view of annotations

A student can immediately view annotations added to their submitted files.

From the Student Assignment Center or Assignments tab on their class page, a student selects the assignment name to open their detail view of the assignment. Under Files, they simply select View annotation. They can print or download the file, as well as select Full screen to expand their view. Then select Close when finished.