[ARCHIVED] Fillable PDF content is doubled (blurry) in Speed Grader

[kami_taylor]

I am using a fillable PDF for assignments. When I view it in Speed Grader the answers are printed in duplicate but not aligned so I cannot read the student responses. I want to use the annotation tools that are part of Canvas' speed grader so I do not want to open them with a different tool (i.e. Reader of Acrobat). Does anyone know how to make the content legible in speed grader?

[mike_sarles]

We're having the same issue with speed grader.  The filled out PDF forms are fine if you save and view them but the text in the filled in fields in speed grader are doubled and offset slightly making it impossible to read.

[dmills3]

For what it is worth, this wasn't happening for me five days ago. Students who turned the assignment in last week, it was fine in Speed Grader, but those who turned it in this week, look just like the screen shot above.

[kami_taylor]

The blurry/double text is also new for me. It used to be fine and now it looks like the screenshot Mike shared. 

[mike_sarles]

Yes, exactly.  It was fine as of Wednesday last week when I corrected my last batch of assignments.  Something has happened in the last few days.

[cpthom08]

Same issue here... This was a test document before the class goes live tonight.

[Stef_retired]

Thanks to everyone who has contributed to this conversation. If you haven't yet done so, please submit a ticket to Canvas Support ( use the Report a Problem option in the Help menu as depicted inHow do I get help with Canvas as an instructor?‌) so our engineers can collect cases and investigate possible solutions.

[dbrace]

Has anyone that has reported this to Canvas Support received any feedback from Canvas Support or Canvas Development?

I have an instructor that has reported the problem to me.

[kami_taylor]

We have submitted the issues and the reply was to instruct students to Flatten the PDF prior to submitting. This solution is not ideal since we are all teaching remotely and it is hard to ask students to do something new with no interaction or direct instruction from teachers. We have asked Canvas to look at the issue again since the error just started occurring. No update on a different solution has been provided.

You can Flatten a PDF by printing to PDF instead of saving. It is not difficult, but a change for students this far into the school year is confusing. We are hopeful Canvas will figure out why the speed grader association with PDFs stopped working. 

[dbrace]

Thank you for the response,  @kami_taylor , and for the workaround.  I have submitted our problem to Canvas Support and made reference to this thread as evidence that it is known about.

I will not be providing that workaround as a solution because something was previously working, now it is not working, there is learning curve to the workaround, and the problem should be fixed.

So far it appears to only be impacting one instructor so it should not be too huge of a deal of us on a short-term basis.

[erinhmcmillan · Accepted solution]

Hi, all,

Our team developed a fix for this behavior and deployed it on Friday. All should be resolved, but if you're still experiencing any behaviors that don't seem right, contact Canvas support and let them know.

Thanks!

Erin

[amber_hainline]

@kami_taylor ,

Can you tell me how you are loading the fillable pdf's into Canvas? I see several people have posted this question in the Community, but no one answers the question. I have a teacher trying to upload a fillable pdf for students to complete and submit. 

[taylor4teach]

I hope I am answering the correct question. I upload the PDF as a document. In the rich content editor it is the icon that looks like a piece of paper. This will add the PDF as a link. Students can then download the PDF. When they open it with Reader or Acrobat it will recognize it is a fillable PDF and students can add their responses.

[dhensley]

Hi, 

This is happing again almost 3 years later. Canvas support has suggested the teacher download the PDFs or that students flatten the pdf. This causes extra work. I wonder if the "fix" mentioned needs to be adjusted.