We understand our teachers have contents in various forms. The conversions and formats below conserve the original formatting during importing.
Convert Microsoft Files into Google Doc
If you have a gmail account you can convert Microsoft files into Google Docs to upload for usage on Actively Learn.
STEP 1: From your gmail account click on the drive icon.
STEP 2: Once you are in the drive. Click the New button. Then select file upload.
STEP 3: Click on the file you want to upload and select choose. The file should appear in your drive.
STEP 4: Right click on the file to convert it into Google Docs. A new window will open with a Google Docs version of your text.
STEP 5: Refresh your drive, it will now include a new converted Google Docs of your Microsoft file.
Google Doc Formatting Guide
Font size
We recommend size 14pt font. Use the default font (Arial) if possible since is supported on every browser and device.
Bold / Italics / Underlined words
You may notice that the word immediately next to the word you bolded gets highlighted in Actively Learn. To avoid this, bold not only the word but the trailing space as well. Same goes for italics and underline.
Indenting paragraphs
Sometimes indentation doesn’t get imported into Actively Learn correctly. The correct way is to type a paragraph and then indent the beginning of it, by pressing the “Tab” button.
To type the second paragraph onwards, press “Enter” at the end of the previous paragraph to start a new, indented paragraph.
If you want to create a left aligned heading between paragraphs:
- Press “Enter” to start a new paragraph
- Remove the indent using the “Backspace” button
- Type heading text, add styling
- Press “Enter” to start a new paragraph
- Add an indent using “Tab”
- Keep pressing “Enter” as suggested above for following paragraphs
Currently, floating or tabbing text all the way to the right edge of a Doc is not supported.
Bulleting
Use the built-in bullet system, and do not copy/paste your own in.
Images and captions
Follow these steps to insert images so they properly appear in Actively Learn.
- Insert -> Image
- Center it
- Press "Enter"
- Add caption
If you’re able to drag around the image and drop it any random position in the Doc, please delete it and try re-inserting using the steps above.
Spelling and grammar check
Google docs has a built-in spelling and grammar checker. To turn this on:
- Select "Tools"
- Spelling and grammar
- Check the features you want on
Equations
Equations are hosted on the user's Google Drive so not everyone will be able to access them. You must share the Doc with your students or make it public to the world, to get equations to properly render at this time.
Convert a PDF into a Google Doc
Note: The following article applies to PDFs that are 10 pages or less in length
If you want your PDFs to have Actively Learn features -- adding a question directly into the text and notes that line up with the text -- you can try converting your PDF into a Google Doc, and have Google extract the text from the PDF document.
Overview Video
Here's a YouTube video that walks you through the steps, and we have an additional guide below.
Step by Step
STEP 1: Go to your Google Drive
STEP 2: Upload your PDF to Google Drive
STEP 3: Open the PDF you uploaded to Google Docs. To do this, simply right-click on the PDF, and select "Open With -- Google Docs"
STEP 4: Here is the most important step. The Google Doc gives you an editable version of the PDF. In this version, you'll see the original PDF page at the top and editable text below. You can delete the original picture of the PDF page, and completely edit and format the "translated" text to your liking -- the format you end up with is the format you'll see in Actively Learn.
Here are two screenshots, the first of the original PDF portion and the editable text.
