Creating & Working with PDFs for Students

TABLE OF CONTENTS

• Creating PDFs from a Word Doc
• Creating a PDF Scan of Your Handwritten Work with Your Phone
  • Android Instructions
  • Submitting Your PDF to Canvas with Google Drive
  • iOS Instructions
• Additional Information about PDFs

Creating PDFs from a Word Doc

If you are using a recent version of Microsoft Office on a Mac or PC, you can create a PDF with most applications just by saving the document you are working on. For instance, if you are using Word, you can save the file as a PDF. Google Docs offers similar functionality via Save. 

1. From the Application, choose Save As.
   (This option can often be found under the File tab)

2. Choose the file extension available to specifically create a PDF. In Microsoft Word, you can select Save As Adobe PDF (shown below) to create the PDF.
   

Creating a PDF Scan of Your Handwritten Work with Your Phone

Some courses may require a submission of handwritten work for an assignment. If the instructor requests that the handwritten work be submitted as a PDF, the following steps provide the easiest way to accomplish this using an Android Mobile Camera or an iOS Mobile Camera with Google Drive.

Android Instructions

Your Instructor would like one page of handwritten work scanned and submitted as a pdf file:

1. Check to see if you have Google Drive on your phone. If not, download Google Drive and set up your account first. You can search for Google Drive in your mobile device’s app store (iPhone App Store or Google Play for Android).

2. Open Google Drive and select the large plus sign to get to the "Create New" menu screen.

3. Select Scan from the "Create New" menu (marked in red below). 

4. Scan your Handwritten work and once you are happy with how it looks, select the check mark.

5. If you only want to take a scan of one page of work, you can now hit save, and your pdf will appear in Google Drive.

Your Instructor would like multiple pages of handwritten work scanned and submitted in one pdf file:

1. Follow instructions 1-4 outlined above.

2. After scanning your first image and selecting the check mark, click on the Overlapping Square + Icon found in the lower left-hand side of the screen. (Marked with a Red Circle below in the second image)

3. You can now take an additional scan of another page of handwritten work and select the check mark when you are happy with how it looks.

4 After all scans are taken, you can select save, and your multiple pages of handwritten work will appear in your Google Drive as one pdf file.

Please Note: It is far easier to add files to a pdf in the manner outlined above than it is to take individual scans and then attempt to merge the pdfs at a later date.

Scanning your handwritten work creates a PDF. This PDF is now located in your Google Drive. 

Submitting Your PDF to Canvas with Google Drive

Using Your Mobile Device

1. Log into the Canvas Student mobile app.
2. Navigate to your course and assignment.
3. Submit your PDF that is saved in Google Drive directly through the Canvas Student mobile app.

Using a Desktop or Laptop

1. Log into your Google Drive on your computer or laptop. 
2. Download the PDF of your handwritten work from Google Drive to the computer.
3. Log into Canvas, navigate to the assignment, and submit the PDF by uploading it from your computer.

iOS Instructions

1. Log into the Canvas Student mobile app.
2. Take the picture on your iOS device (iPhone or iPad) or open a saved picture of your handwritten work.
3. Click the share button in the lower-left corner of the screen.
4. Scroll down the list of sharing options and select Print.
5. Click Print in the upper-right corner of your screen.
6. Select the Canvas Student mobile app from the list of options (you might need to scroll to the right to see the app).
7. Use “Select course” to find the Canvas site containing the assignment.
8. Use “Select assignment” to find the assignment. Optional: add a comment to submit with the assignment.
9. Click Submit in the upper-right corner of the screen.

Additional Information about PDFs

Adobe Reader

While there are plenty of variants to the Adobe Suite, we suggest the free-to-use Adobe Reader. While it does not allow you to edit PDF, it will allow you to view them and is considered the standard software to do so.  

*Adapted with permission from support.wharton.upenn.edu