Known Issues

This is a list of known issues or potential sources of trouble with Blackboard (or any web-based technology).  If you are experiencing problems, please review this list and reach out for additional assistance.

Submitting Assignments / Text Editor

There’s a glitch in Blackboard where a user is unable to submit an assignment if the Text Editor prompt in the OFF position. In order to be able to submit an assignment, you need to turn the Text Editor back ON.

Written directions:


Submitting SafeAssignments / Google Docs

There may be a compatibility issue with Word format files (.docx) created on Google Docs that fail to upload to SafeAssign.

 When a user attempts to upload the file, an error message may be generated that SafeAssign could not process the file even though it is in the supported .docx format. The issue is with how Google Docs converts the file to Word format.

A workaround to this problem is copying/pasting your text from Google Docs into either WordPad on Windows or TextEdit on a Mac.  Or, if you have access to Microsoft Word, you can open the file with the application to save and overwrite the existing file.


Miscellaneous

The following are items to note:


Issue: Extra Credit (columns worth zero points) are not calculated in the total column.

Resolution: When recording extra credit, be sure to modify the total column to include the extra credit column. To do this Click on the Total Column > Click on Modify Column > Click on Selected Grade Columns, Calculated Columns and Categories > Highlight and move to the left all of the columns you want included in the total > Click Submit.


Issue: Column needs a Category to be included in Grade Weighting.

Resolution: When creating a column be sure to set a category if you plan to use Grade Weighting. If you already created a column without a category, you can add a category. To do this Click on the Column > Click on Modify Column,> Select a Category > Click Submit.


Issue: Special Characters

Resolution: Special characters are not supported in the title of course items, assignments, tests, etc. Use of these special characters may prevent you and your students from accessing Blackboard items. If you have included a special character in an item name, you should rename the item and remove the special character. Special characters are defined as one of the following items: ! @ # $ % ^ & * ( ) _ + - = { } [ ] \ | : ; < > ? , . /

 

Issue: A security warning stating "The application's digital signature has an error. Do you want to run the application?" keeps popping up.

Resolution: Click the check box next to 'Always accept content from this publisher.' and click Run.

 

Issue: I just added grades to the Grade Center, and now they have disappeared. Where did they go?

Resolution: If you are working in the Grade Center and some of your grades suddenly disappear, don't panic, they will likely return momentarily. If after a minute they do not return, do the following:

1.Close out your browser, wait a few minutes, and log back in. Your grades should be visible.

2.This rare behavior appears to be caused by caching issues. The best workaround is to use the Grade Details view to enter grades. One way to do this (shortcut) is to right-click in the cell of the first student and select Grade Details. Once you enter the grade for that student, you can advance through your class using the menu in the upper right of the page. Grades entered this way are unaffected by the caching issues.

 

Issue: Problems saving a submitted assignment

Resolution: If you try to open/save a student submitted assignment but get an "HTTP Status 404" error message, the problem is likely due to use of special characters.

1.Certain special characters should not be used in file names within Blackboard's software. Do not use any characters other than letters (A-Z or a-z), numbers (0-9), dashes (-), or underscores (_) in the name of the file.

2.To fix the problem, have the student upload the file again without any special characters in the name. You will first need to clear their attempt. To do so, Click on Grade Details > Click Clear Attempt.