Blackboard Annotate

Annotate provides robust features for delivering personalized and detailed feedback to students. These features include a sidebar summary view, freehand drawing tools, diverse color options, and more.

With Bb Annotate, you can draw, comment, add inline text directly to specific areas of a document, insert images and shapes, and utilize a wide range of colors to enhance your feedback.

Blackboard Annotate supports the following file types: 

  • Microsoft® Word (DOC, DOCX) 
  • Microsoft® PowerPoint® (PPT, PPTX) 
  • Microsoft® Excel® (XLS, XLSX) 
  • OpenOffice® Documents (ODS, ODT, ODP) 
  • Digital Images (JPEG, JPG, PNG, TIF, TIFF, TGA, BMP, HEIC) 
  • Source code (Java, PY, C, CPP, etc) 
  • Medical Images (DICOM, DICM, DCM) 
  • PDF, RTF, PSD, TXT, and WPD 

Viewing Tools Available 

The tools available in the tool bar from left to right include the following:  

  1. Sidebar: View Thumbnail, Outline, or Annotation views of the submission.  
  2. Pan: Move the submission on the page. 
  3. Pages: Jump to different pages in the submission. 
  4. Zoom and Fit: Zoom in and out of the submission or adjust the view to fit the page, fit the width, or select the best fit. 

Annotation Tools Available 

Select the specific portions of an assignment you want to annotate. Highlighted text can be strike through, underlined, squiggled, or commented on. 

The annotation tools available from left to right include the following: 

  1. Drawing, Brush, and Eraser: Draw freehand on the submission with various colors, thickness, and opacity, or use the eraser to remove annotations.  
  2. Image or Stamp: Choose a preloaded stamp or create your own customized stamp or image to add to the submission. 
  3. Comment: Provide feedback in the form of comments.  
  4. Undo and Redo: Undo or repeat the last action you did. 
  5. Text: Add text directly on the submission. You can move, edit, and change the text and select the font, size, alignment, and color of the text. 
  6. Shapes: Choose Line, Arrow, Rectangle, Ellipse, Polygon, and Polyline. Each shape can be customized by color, width, opacity, and more. 
  7. Print or Download: Print or download the submission with the annotations. 
  8. Search: Search the submission for specific text. 
  9. Content Library: Build a library of reusable comments to streamline your feedback process. You can easily add, edit, delete, and search for comments within the library.
    • To add a new comment, simply select the plus sign in the Content Library menu. Comments can be placed directly on the submission page, copied to the clipboard, edited, or deleted as needed. Use keywords or phrases to quickly search and locate saved comments.
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How to annotate an assignment

 

Additional Notes 

  • Annotation sessions expire after one hour. You’ll receive a warning message before your session expires. Annotations are automatically saved. 
  • Original formatting and embedded images are preserved. 
  • If a student submitted an unsupported file, you will be prompted to download it. 
  • Assignment submissions created through the text editor aren’t compatible with Blackboard Annotate. 
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