How to share files with students Follow
Share files offers an easy way to share and copy documents to students from Hāpara Teacher Dashboard.
In this article:
- How to Share files to students
- Checking the status of a Share files job
- Share files errors
- How to undo shared files
How to share files to students
To start, click the Share files button, in the top right of any Hāpara Teacher Dashboard class:
1. Select files to share or copy
- a) To share or copy an existing file:
To select an existing file from your Google Drive, click Select or upload file with the Drive icon. This will open Drive's file picker. If you have trouble finding a document via the picker, you may find it useful to try Google's advanced search tips, described in this article.
- b) Creating a new file to share or copy:
To make a new file to share or copy, click the icon for the type of file you want to create. The options are Google Docs, Google Sheets, Google Slides and Google Drawings.
- Choosing a title
a) Choosing a title for existing files:
If you select an existing file from your Drive, its title will automatically be placed in the Filename field. Changing this will change the title for the copies your students receive, but doing so will not rename your original copy of the file.
b)Choosing a title for new files:
When making a new file, type a name into the Filename field to replace the default name of "New document."
Personalize copied files with each student's name:
If you are making copies, you can personalize their titles by adding students' names. To do so, simply check the box next to Append name.
3. Selecting a sharing type
4. Selecting a destination for your Smart Shared files
There are three ways to specify which students will receive a file and where the file will be placed: by class, by student, and by group.
- By class - Files will be placed in the chosen subject folders for each student in the chosen class.
- By student - Files will be placed in the chosen subject folders. Each selected student will receive the copied or shared files in the chosen subject folder.
- By group - Files will be placed in the chosen subject folders for each student in the chosen color groups.
5. Handling existing student documents
If a student already has a file with the same name as the file you're sharing, Share files can either replace the existing file or stop the copy process for that student and leave the existing file alone.
Replacing the file is useful when a teacher has copied a file in error. To do so, simply check the box at the bottom of the Share files settings.
In order to successfully replace an existing file a few conditions must be met:
- The original file and the new file must have the exact same title.
- The original file and the new file both need to be shared with permissions set to Copy (share read-only, share read-write and share read-comment files cannot be replaced).
- Both the original file and the new file need to be shared to the same folder.
For more about deleting student files after they have been copied, please jump to How to undo Share files.
6. Let the sharing begin!
After reviewing your settings, start Share files by clicking "OK." The length of time required for file sharing will vary based on the numbers of files and students selected.
Checking the status of a Share files job
While your sharing job is processing, the up arrow in the button for your shared files job list will be animated.
To check on the status of a Share files job, open the Share files job list, to the right of the Share files button.
A spinning circle indicates a job is in process
A green circle with a white checkmark indicates a job has completed successfully
A circle with a white background and a green checkmark indicates a job has completed with errors.
Click Details to review which files were sent in a job and to review any errors.
Share files errors
If you see a circle with a white background and green checkmark (
) next to a Share files job, that means an error occurred while sharing. One or some of your students may not have received a file.
When this happens, click the Details button for that job. You will be able to see which files had errors and for which students they occurred.
Some error messages you may see include:
- File was not shared with students.
- File was not shared due to file owner's permission settings.
- Shared drive files cannot be shared with students, only copied.
- File sharing cannot be confirmed, please check status with student.
When you see the error "file was not shared with students" you can:
- Wait a few minutes and try sharing again.
- Reset your class folders on the Class Info page and then to share again.
If you continue to experience issues with sharing files, report the error to our Support Team directly from the details window by clicking Report errors.
How to undo Share files
If you accidentally share a file to students that you didn't intend to, you have the option to undo a Share files job.
The ability to undo shared files is available for five minutes after the job has completed. If you need to undo a share after that point, see the section on deleting docs.
To access a Share files job, open the drop-down menu next to the Share files button.
Recently shared files will have an Unshare button next to them. When you click this button, you will be asked to confirm that you want to unshare all of the files in that job (you cannot unshare individual files if you shared multiple files in the same job).
When files have been successfully unshared, you will see a gray circle with a white checkmark next to the share job.
If there was an error with unsharing the files, you will see this message:
