FAQ for teachers

Is there an alternative PDF editor for the Assignment?

The Moodle1 PDF editor is no longer available

Following many complaints about the Moodle2 Assignment PDF editor, the original Moodle1 PDF editor has now been made available in HUJI Moodle2.

Enable it in the Assignment Settings as follows:

  • In section Submission types,  uncheck File submissions, check Only PDF files and check File submissions (Alternative PDF editor). This ensures that files submitted by students are prepared for editing as they are submitted. It should be done before students begin to submit. (In the regular PDF editor, the files are prepared when they are loaded into the editor for the first time.**)  Note: Options Maximum number of uploaded files,  Maximum submission size  and Only PDF files apply to both File submissions and File submissions (Alternative PDF editor).  The two Coversheet options apply only to Files submissions (Alternative PDF editor).
  • In section Feedback types, check Alternative PDF editor. This ensures that the alternative editor is available in addition to the regular editor.

In the student's grading page (reached by clicking on the student's blue Grade button in the View/grades all submissions page), there will now be a new section, Alternative PDF editor, below the regular Annotate PDF section.
Saving and viewing works a little differently to the regular editor:

  • In both editors, comments and annotations are saved immediately
  • For the regular editor, clicking on one of the Save changes or Save and show next  buttons at the bottom of the student's grading page, releases the edited PDF to the student (i.e. both the online and downloadable PDFs).
    For the alternative editor:
    • Clicking on the savequitSave draft annotations button at the top of the editor window releases the online PDF to the student
    • Clicking on the tostudentGenerate response file button releases both the online and downloadable PDFs to the student
  • For the regular editor, there are links to the released PDFs in column Annotate PDF of the View/grade all submissions page.
    For the alternative editor, the links are in the Alternative PDF editor section of the student's grading page.
  • For the regular editor, the only way to remove the released PDFs is to delete all comments and annotations and then click on one of the Save buttons.
    For the alternative editor there is an option Delete response. This removes the released PDFs but not the grader's annotations and comments.
Graders can use either editor. However, they should take care not to release PDFs from both editors to students,


Note: In older versions of the Chromium browser, many actions in the alternative editor crash the page (Aw, Snap!).

**As a consequence, the regular editor can take several minutes to load a file for the first time. The files can be prepared ahead of time by selecting Prepare all PDF images from Grading action menu on the View/grade all submissions page. Note: This action can take several hours to complete, depending on the number, size and complexity of the files.

הצגת הערות