How can I view files that I attached to my "assignment comments" in SpeedGrader?

When I attach a file (e.g., a PDF file) to my "assignment comments" in SpeedGrader, it seems that my students can see these files but I cannot see them (e.g., if I want to check if I have attached the correct file or if I want to see the comments that I gave my students some time ago). If I click at "Download submission comments", I can see the text of my "assignment comment" but not the attached file 😞

Find more posts tagged with

Canvas

Accepted answers

Chris_Hofer

Good morning, @ArneHenningsen ...

I did some testing in my own sandbox course, and I also used the instructions outlined in: How do I download submission comments as a PDF in ... - Instructure Community (canvaslms.com). I got the same results as you did. I had added a *.docx (Word document) as an assignment comment, but that file did not download when I clicked on the "Download Submission Comments" link. My guess is that this is "by design"...meaning that only the actual comments will download to a PDF file...not any attached files that were part of the comments. Technically, I guess you could say that files are not comments...even though you may have included feedback within your attached file.

Since the Guide I linked to above doesn't indicate that attachments are not included with the "Download Submission Comments" link, this would be an opportunity for you to do the following:

Submit a new Feature Idea here in the Community asking for files to be included when clicking on "Download Submission Comments".
Use the "share your feedback" link at the bottom (below the two big red buttons: "Ask a Question" & "View Related Guides") of the Guide I linked in my first paragraph to send a message to the Canvas Documentation Team with your suggestion on how that particular Guide can be more clear. They will review your suggestion and make any necessary changes so that the Canvas documentation here in the Community is as accurate as possible.

I hope this will be of some help to you...even though it might not be the answer you were looking for. Let Community members know if you have any other questions about this...thanks!

All comments

Chris_Hofer

Good morning, @ArneHenningsen ...

Since the Guide I linked to above doesn't indicate that attachments are not included with the "Download Submission Comments" link, this would be an opportunity for you to do the following:

Submit a new Feature Idea here in the Community asking for files to be included when clicking on "Download Submission Comments".
Use the "share your feedback" link at the bottom (below the two big red buttons: "Ask a Question" & "View Related Guides") of the Guide I linked in my first paragraph to send a message to the Canvas Documentation Team with your suggestion on how that particular Guide can be more clear. They will review your suggestion and make any necessary changes so that the Canvas documentation here in the Community is as accurate as possible.

I hope this will be of some help to you...even though it might not be the answer you were looking for. Let Community members know if you have any other questions about this...thanks!

chadscott

@ArneHenningsen It's marked solved because that's the best answer the community has for you. This isn't a bug and isn't something that can be "fixed" for you. @Chris_Hofer gave you options for next steps.

My own suggestion would be - you uploaded the files, so one would assume you would still have those files to reference should you need. If you don't, now you know that in the future, you should keep those files in a way in which you can reference them again should you need.

Cheers,
Chad Scott

unknown

@chadscott Thanks for your response. I think that this is an annoying bug ... but perhaps a car dealer wouldn't consider a missing rearview mirrors to be a deficiency (bug) of a car -- the buyers could just use their own mirrors in the car 😉

chadscott

@ArneHenningsen I understand your frustration when things don't work like you think they should. My point is that a "bug" is when something doesn't work as intended and in this case, that's not what is happening. Speedgrader is working as intended - Canvas did not build in the functionality for you to view your attachments to comments.

This is where @Chris_Hofer's direction to search the Ideas conversation comes in. If this is functionality you think would bring positive change to the platform, vote up the idea if it's there or create a post yourself if it's not. That is the most direct method for communicating with the development teams, not here.

Cheers,
Chad Scott

kete

THIS IS NOT SOLVED. When you have a button that says upload a file, it should be able to be seen and I should be able to as the author/instructor see what I have placed here. I will just say, you may not want to call it a bug but if you see a link that states you are going being directed to a specific place and it send you another or it states that the action that it will create is one thing and it does something else than stated - that is a bug. That is what is happening here. I just spend several hours making it "easier" for myself to give feedback to my students in premade feedback forms (that I am not allowed to alter) only to find out what it seemed your system can not do the function in a practical way.

Unanswered Questions

Change Order of Account Menu Items
I'm an Admin in Canvas, and I'd like to know if it's possible to change the order of items in the Account menu. Now, we have: -ePortfolio (Legacy) -Shared Items -Portfolio We'd like to have Portfolio above ePortfolio (Legacy), to encourage people to use that, but I can't find a way to do it.
Monitoring API Activity (in test)
We are testing a third party integration from our college's ERP provider. We have connected it to our test environment. It seems to have very few features and options. So, just wondering if there is a way to monitor API calls. I was able to use the DAPClient in Python to download canvas_logs in our production environment.…
Rubric no longer collapses
Previously on the built-in rubrics, vertical view, the rubric items were collapsed. You could expand them to see details of each point value. Now they are expanded by default and I see no way to collapse them. When a teacher is grading 20 of the same assignment, he or she knows what each point value entails. By having them…
Feature Request: Export a list of students who have (or have not) submitted an assignment/quiz
As "Ideas" section is gone (at least for now), I'm posting a feature request here. Mobile app shows a list of students who have submitted or not submitted a quiz/assignment. Would be good to have this in web version as well as way to export csv.
About ne upcoming Portfolio feature
Could you please clarify about the URL structure for the new Canvas Portfolio feature after the retirement of the ePortfolios on June 30, 2026?