[ARCHIVED] Assignments won't submit, please help?

[mcneelya]

My son is a freshman in high school and is having intermittent problems with assignments not submitting correctly in canvas. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. He usually uploads PDF's of assignments, occasionally a video. Sometimes he gets an error message when he tries to submit and sometimes it looks like the assignment was submitted but then he gets a very long error message that it did not submit. I can't find any answers in the guides for this. He's been to the "expert" in the high school to solve this but it is not solved yet. Any one have any suggestions on how we can try to get this fixed so he's not falling behind on assignments?

[ericwerth · Accepted solution]

Hello  @mcneelya and welcome to the community!  I'm sorry you are experiencing this issue.  I've looked around a bit and have found a number of posts related to errors submitting assignments, but none with a definite answer that sounds similar to what you are experiencing.  Has your son tried submitting assignments from another device, such as a laptop?  I also wonder if it could be related to the size of the file or if there is an interruption in wireless connection during the submission process.  If he tries to submit assignments from a different location, such as the school itself, does this make a difference?  One other thing I have run into a while ago (long enough that I can't remember if the issue was with Canvas or not) was file names that contained special characters such as / or &.  I remember thinking these uploaded but they did not, although in this instance didn't get some type of error message.  Removing the special characters fixed the issue in this instance.

I don't know if any of these ideas will help but wanted to try and help!

[ericwerth · Accepted solution]

Thanks for the update  @mcneelya .  Please let us know what happens with the file he just tried to submit.  It would be interesting to know if this time it worked or not!

[ibsandoval1 · Accepted solution]

I want to expand on my problem in order to get the best help so I went on my canvas app, clicked on the assignment I needed to upload hw for, pressed on file upload which took me to 4 options on the bottom of my screen containing: camera, library, files, and scanner. I pressed camera and tried uploading the picture I had just taken of my paper assignment but then it told me that "the data couldn't be read because it isn't in the correct format" so I thought weird so alternatively I pressed files and I tapped on my imported pdf file. I submitted it and it says submission uploading 2.3 MB of 2.3 MB meaning that the file has been imported successfully. Usually at this point I would get the confetti to show that it submitted but now it stays stuck on the 2.3 out of 2.3 and later says "The data couldn't be read because it isn't in the correct format". As soon as I saw this I thought ok so I guess the update they did on my app overnight caused it to stop being compatible with my app "small.pdf" which allows me to convert my document to pdfs. In response to this on the same canvas app I went to my emails and I wanted to send my professor the file and the camera picture but it didn't even allow me to upload it in my emails either. What is going on ?

[ibsandoval1 · Accepted solution]

Also keep in mind I have not had a problem with the canvas app all semester. 

[ericwerth · Accepted solution]

Hello  @mcneelya and welcome to the community!  I'm sorry you are experiencing this issue.  I've looked around a bit and have found a number of posts related to errors submitting assignments, but none with a definite answer that sounds similar to what you are experiencing.  Has your son tried submitting assignments from another device, such as a laptop?  I also wonder if it could be related to the size of the file or if there is an interruption in wireless connection during the submission process.  If he tries to submit assignments from a different location, such as the school itself, does this make a difference?  One other thing I have run into a while ago (long enough that I can't remember if the issue was with Canvas or not) was file names that contained special characters such as / or &.  I remember thinking these uploaded but they did not, although in this instance didn't get some type of error message.  Removing the special characters fixed the issue in this instance.

I don't know if any of these ideas will help but wanted to try and help!

[mcneelya]

Thank you Eric. I can't tell what version Canvas is on his IPAD. He uses the app. The issues have been happening at school when he tries to submit. He also had an update on his IPAD and all his notability documents got deleted. So he's had to recreate assignments and try to submit and then he's had issues with getting the assignments to submit. It's happening in more than one class and he's had a couple assignments that submitted okay. They apparently take assignments from the teacher in canvas, go into notability and fill out the answers, then that saves as a PDF, then they upload that into canvas and "turn in". He just did one from home and emailed the teacher so we're in a wait and see position to see if it went through. He doesn't always get an error report, but the one he got Friday was page after page of what looks like gibberish. He says he doesn't give names to the files in notability, it's an autosave and it generates its own names.

[ericwerth · Accepted solution]

Thanks for the update  @mcneelya .  Please let us know what happens with the file he just tried to submit.  It would be interesting to know if this time it worked or not!

[Tileatha1234]

Please please help! Currently my son is in virtual school and his assignments are not crossing over. He is constantly getting zeros on assignments that he has completed. Are you able to run a error report to identify if his submissions failed. I am desperate, and need to find a solution. The school only solution is for him to return to traditional school. I know that he is completing the assignments. Please help. 

[Renee_Carney]

 @mcneelya  

We really hope your son has had successful assignment submissions.  If not, please do return and we'll see how we can help you further.  If he is still having trouble it might be helpful to seek the Canvas admin at your local school.  Sometimes it is helpful to find someone you can meet f2f that can look at the device.

[ibsandoval1 · Accepted solution]

I want to expand on my problem in order to get the best help so I went on my canvas app, clicked on the assignment I needed to upload hw for, pressed on file upload which took me to 4 options on the bottom of my screen containing: camera, library, files, and scanner. I pressed camera and tried uploading the picture I had just taken of my paper assignment but then it told me that "the data couldn't be read because it isn't in the correct format" so I thought weird so alternatively I pressed files and I tapped on my imported pdf file. I submitted it and it says submission uploading 2.3 MB of 2.3 MB meaning that the file has been imported successfully. Usually at this point I would get the confetti to show that it submitted but now it stays stuck on the 2.3 out of 2.3 and later says "The data couldn't be read because it isn't in the correct format". As soon as I saw this I thought ok so I guess the update they did on my app overnight caused it to stop being compatible with my app "small.pdf" which allows me to convert my document to pdfs. In response to this on the same canvas app I went to my emails and I wanted to send my professor the file and the camera picture but it didn't even allow me to upload it in my emails either. What is going on ?

[lnelson7]

I believe the default file format for iPad photos is HEIC. Follow these directions to change the default to jpg.

[rseilham · Accepted solution]

@ibsandoval1 

The was an update to the Canvas Student app for iOS recently (v6.9.8) which mentioned solving submissions issues. Can you see if this solves the app issue? Thanks! 

[rseilham · Accepted solution]

The was an update to the Canvas Student app for iOS recently (v6.9.8) which mentioned solving submissions issues. Can you see if this solves the app issue? Thanks! 

[Recurringerror]

I know this is 2 years later, but I've recently been having the same exact problem - when trying to submit a pdf or docx file, I get "failed to submit - try again". Then I try to upload it to Canvas through OneDrive and Google Drive - OneDrive doesn't accept it and Google Drive cannot submit it to Canvas because it is a "bad format". Switching browsers didn't help either - I tried Firefox, Google Chrome, and Edge  but none worked. I couldn't email it through Outlook either and my only saving grace was being able to send it through Gmail! Also, I attempted uploading the same exact file a day later and it worked just fine! I have no idea why this happens and it's been very nerve-wracking with take-home finals...

If anyone has found workarounds/solutions to this, please let me know!

[Recurringerror]

More info:

This was all on a desktop computer and I was trying to upload a pdf/docx through the browser/website.

I've been using Canvas for years now and only recently has this been happening to me.

[ibsandoval1 · Accepted solution]

Also keep in mind I have not had a problem with the canvas app all semester. 

[rseilham]

@ibsandoval1,

Sorry to hear the app is causing issues. This can be hard to diagnose without either seeing the process or walking through it in a live setting. If you haven't already, I would suggest you contact your local tech support to report and investigate the issue. 

My other suggestion would include uninstalling and reinstalling the app. 

Also, If you are simply taking a photo or an assignment to submit it through the app, I would suggest the scanner tool. It will scan your document into a PDF for submission. 

Hope this helps. Thanks. 

[MiguelRiosa]

I've kind of had a same problem with this except instead, the assignment is submitted but at some point it just un-submits, and I've had so many problems regarding this since I try to message my Literature teacher in inbox to publish the assignment (I had to like memorize a poem or something) and sent my recording for proof, but no reply, I kind of want this problem to be fixed soon, I has already happened like 5 times total