Annotating a PDF without using an external tool

[alicia_ocampo]

If I want students to annotate directly on a PDF, how would they do that? Our school does not support any external tools such as Kami. If an external tool is the only way to do it, is there a way I can integrate it, or does it have to come from admin? 

[Stef_retired · Accepted solution]

Hi,  @alicia_ocampo  Welcome to the Canvas Community! As long as students have access to mobile devices that support the Canvas Student app, they will be able to annotate directly on the PDFs the instructor provides. For more information, please refer to:

https://community.canvaslms.com/docs/DOC-9836-18561633679 

How do I submit a PDF assignment with annotations in the Student app on my Android device? 

[ErichNolan]

Is there any plan for a canvas tool that will work on pc's? My students use laptops (not chromebooks) and getting them to annotate pdf's does not have a solution that works well. I have used two methods, so far. 

1. Students download, then markup with Adobe Reader, then save the file and upload the correct file. I don't love this because many students struggle with digital file management and often upload the wrong file. Also, Adobe's markup tools (on the free version) aren't great. 

2. I have a teacher trial for Kami at the moment, and our principal is working on a whole school account. Kami is great, except I get errors nearly every time I make it an "external submission" tool and also when trying to open Kami assignments in the speed grader. For both of these issues, if I reload the page, it might work on the 10th, or 25th time. This also is obviously not ideal. Kami support has not been very helpful with this... yet.