Downloading feedback from SpeedGrader doesn't include text boxes on the page

[michelle_huettl]

I've been telling students to download my feedback when I post their grades.

Their work is submitted and translated to a PDF file by Canvas, and I then assess and provide feedback via SpeedGrader using the annotation tools of "Free draw annotation" and "Free text annotation" (the former being writing on the PDF by hand and the latter being the text boxes). I sometimes use the highlighting tool as well. 

What I've discovered, though, is that when students download the feedback using the upper left hand "Download annotated PDF," the download does include the comments left via "Free text annotation." I was wondering why students ignored parts of their feedback, but this huge flaw seems to be why. Has anyone else had this issue? Is this a Canvas-wide issue that they need to get on and fix or is there a way for me to fix this from my end?

Simply having them view the feedback within Canvas isn't a sufficient solution because the viewing feature for that is so terrible. They either have that tiny box in which they can scroll around trying to see feedback, or they have to make the feedback full-screen, which is obnoxious to go back and forth from when revising work.

[chriscas]

Hi @michelle_huettl,

This could depend on the software the student(s) are using to view the PDF download.  I just tried this in a test course, and I can see freetext annotations in the PDF download exactly as I see them in Canvas (screenshots attached).  I'm using Adobe Acrobat Reader to open the PDF locally.

-Chris