Question

I sent a file to my instructor via the Drop Box or Assignment tool. However, my instructor cannot find the file. How do I send my file?

Answer

There are two possible solutions to this problem.

Make sure you clicked the "Send" button in the drop box. Sometimes students will add a file to the drop box; but then forget to click the "Send" button to actually submit the file to their instructors. Remember that just because you can see the file in your drop box doesn't mean that your instructor can also see it.

The second possible problem has to do with a naming conventions in Blackboard. When using either the Drop Box or the Assignment tool in Blackboard it is important that you do not use any special symbols such as the "#" symbol in the file name. These are symbols that Blackboard interprets as HTML code and will keep your instructor from being able to open your file. You must rename your file so it does not have a "#" or other symbol. For example, instead of sending a file named "Quiz #1" use a name like "Quiz_1".

In general, all file names for Blackboard should consist only of letters, underscores "_" and numbers. The only place a period should appear is before the file extension (such as .doc for Word documents or .xls for Excel spreadsheets). If you are uploading a file from a Macintosh computer make sure you add the file extension before you upload the file. If the instructor is using a Windows computer he or she may not be able to easily open a file without the correct extension.