Student annotation buttons not available

[CassyCoggins]

I have a PDF of a learner workbook uploaded to Canvas so each student gets their own copy to annotate.

When I open the PDF (using a test student account), I can see the annotation tools but when the students open the PDF, they can't see the annotation tools.

We are on different internet services. Would this be causing the problem?
Thanks in advance for any advice.

[james_whalley · Accepted solution]

@CassyCoggins Have you uploaded the PDF just as a file or have you included it through an assignment or an integration? There is functionality for students to annotate a document through an assignment, but I do not believe that functionality exists for files that are not in an assignment or integration. You could also explore Perusall's free tool that can allow annotation without it being an assignment.

[james_whalley · Accepted solution]

@CassyCoggins Have you uploaded the PDF just as a file or have you included it through an assignment or an integration? There is functionality for students to annotate a document through an assignment, but I do not believe that functionality exists for files that are not in an assignment or integration. You could also explore Perusall's free tool that can allow annotation without it being an assignment.

[dbrace]

@CassyCoggins, was @james_whalley able to help you or did you figure out it on your own or by working with someone else?

@james_whalley, thank you for sharing the Perusall website.

By chance, could you please link directly to the annotation tool that you mentioned on their site?  Admittedly, I did not look around too much for it but I could not find it.

-Doug

[chriscas · Accepted solution]

Hi @CassyCoggins,

As @dbrace and @james_whalley alluded to, there isn't really a student annotation feature for a PDF put in files built into Canvas.  Most likely what you're seeing is whatever program is configured to view a PDF on your device has an annotation feature, but whatever program your students have does not have that functionality.

Since a couple other workarounds for this have been suggested, I won't dive much further into this right now, I really just wanted to provide clarity on what is happening for you and others who may come across this thread in the future.

-Chris