[ARCHIVED] Issues with Annotations in Speedgrader on my iPad

[Rachel_S]

I've been using Speedgrader through the Canvas Teacher App on my iPad. My annotated comments have started floating away--they don't stay or appear where I put them. Even if I can find them somewhere else on the page, I can't move them to where I want them.
I liked grading on my iPad, but I can't waste my time doing that anymore because I always have to get onto the computer to find and move my annotated comments or I just give up and start fresh but deleting all the annotations I can find.
What am I doing wrong? Any suggestions?

[gcollins1]

I have a support ticket open right now, for one of our faculty who was using his iPad and Apple Pencil to annotate and grade student assignments (uploaded PDFs) in SpeedGrader. His last two stylus strokes are being left off, so 98% looks like 98/ (because the circles he had added went missing)... "oscillate" looks like "oscillal" (since the cross for the "t" and the "e" were discarded).

[jarrodsisk]

This also happens for me.  And I wait until it says saved.  So I don't understand why they don't all appear.

[gcollins1 · Accepted solution]

Canvas Support, after looking at video of my professor grading, responded:
"Thank you for that. The main reason we will see some of the annotations be removed when the submissions are left and then come back to will be because the submission page was left before the annotation was completely saved. This can happen if the page is left too quickly, or if there may be trouble with the connection. To avoid this, they will want to make sure that the top of the submission page says "all annotations saved". We've done some testing as well and haven't been able to reproduce any trouble with annotations saving with any consistency. Let us know if you have any other questions."

My comments: I think it is unfortunate that one of the aspects of using SpeedGrader on a tablet with a stylus, specifically, that it was fast and easy to swipe left, is at the root of the problem here. It is unfortunate that swiping left speedily, after annotating, does not allow SpeedGrader to keep caught up, so losing data. But it is always nice to have an answer.

[cchampi]

I am still having this problem on my Canvas teacher app for iPad. I wait for all changes to be saved, but when I exit and go back in, words that were written at the beginning of the document are missing random endings/letters. If I write a score breakdown, random numbers disappear. It always says "All annotations saved" but it is usually not true. I have to go back in multiple times over to add in what it deletes. It's a perpetual game of "Find the Differences" and I really don't want to play anymore. I know youse said you "tested" it, but I'm almost certain you're missing something. I would like to show you through a screen video, but since my students' names are all viewable on the screen, I cannot.

[KatherineKeough]

I am having the same issue and it's driving me INSANE. I can't find any solutions here and canvas keeps responding that the problem is 'solved' or that 'plenty of people use the apple pencil for annotations with no issue'. This feature is useless if unreliable. 

[dlliba10]

Same problem here -- I always wait until I see "all annotations saved" before hitting Done or moving to the next assignment, but annotations consistently go missing. Sometimes what disappears is not even logical -- in many cases, my most recent annotations are there, but then parentheses, symbols, halves of words, etc., that I wrote minutes ago go missing.

[jarrodsisk]

Exactly!  It is not a good program if things that say saved disappear.

[RebekahMartin]

I have the same issue as well. And now with the latest update, my annotations will not work in speedgrader at all - pencil or text!

[mdwoodhull]

The annotation function has completely disappeared now. Unable to annotate at all.

[DeletedUser]

We also have an instructor who has the issue with parts of her annotations disappearing even after she waits for the all annotations message to appear. We've had a case opened about this for a few months, but haven't seen a real solution yet. 

[zderango]

I am also still having this issue. I wait until the "All annotations saved." message appears, but random parts of my annotations frequently go missing. I thought I was saving myself time but fixing these annotations is now making me spend more time! Very frustrating.

[SusanLeight]

I am having a similar problem to those described above.  I have made multiple comments in student papers while grading on my IPad, saved the comments and the rubric grades only to find the comments completely missing when I reopen Canvas on my computer.  Not sure what to do to retrieve the comments and am concerned I will need to regrade these papers.  All that remains is the comment bubble in the text but no comment. I do have a notation that all annotations were saved.