Blackboard trips out when I try to view PDFs?

BhoscaCapall

Thanks to this stupid new Blackboard, I no longer get the choice of downloading my lecture PDF notes, instead it tries to open them in the browser. I've changed the file handling settings in the browser and tried using Explorer too but each time, it tries to load the rubbish built-in PDF viewer and crashes.

Is there any way to just download the damn files?

Raging_Ninja

BhoscaCapall wrote: »

Thanks to this stupid new Blackboard, I no longer get the choice of downloading my lecture PDF notes, instead it tries to open them in the browser. I've changed the file handling settings in the browser and tried using Explorer too but each time, it tries to load the rubbish built-in PDF viewer and crashes.

Is there any way to just download the damn files?

Right click on the link and select Save Link As.

Elsewise wghen it is open in the browser hover the mouse over the bottom of the screen and a box should pop up with a few options, select the icon with the tooltip "Save a copy". Am doing this now using Firefox.

BhoscaCapall

Raging_Ninja wrote: »

Right click on the link and select Save Link As.

That doesn't work because it's not a direct link, for example the target is "https://nuigalway.blackboard.com/webapps/blackboard/execute/content/file?cmd=view&content_id=_273195_1&course_id=_12238_1" and when you click Save As it tries to save file.htm

Raging_Ninja wrote: »

Elsewise wghen it is open in the browser hover the mouse over the bottom of the screen and a box should pop up with a few options, select the icon with the tooltip "Save a copy". Am doing this now using Firefox.

But it doesn't load it up in the browser, it crashes.

Raging_Ninja

maybe a corruption on the database? contact the lecturer.

joeKel73

After clicking into your subject, select "Content" on the left menu rather than going into the sections on the main screen. You should see direct links to the PDFs then?

gbswales

BhoscaCapall wrote: »

That doesn't work because it's not a direct link, for example the target is "https://nuigalway.blackboard.com/webapps/blackboard/execute/content/file?cmd=view&content_id=_273195_1&course_id=_12238_1" and when you click Save As it tries to save file.htm
But it doesn't load it up in the browser, it crashes.

Looking at pdf's in our Blackboard Learn 9.1.7 I cant see any links that would appear like that - I think this is more likely to do with the way the content has been uploaded than because of any blackbaord updates. Of course if your institution is one of the former WebCT colleges then they may be using a different blackboard version to ours depending on where they are in the transition from webCT to blackboard. A normal document link in blackboard would look something like this

http://blackboard.xxxx.ac.uk/bbcswebdav/pid-941308-dt-content-rid-832572_2/xid-832572_2 (i have x'd out our institution ID) and i cant seem to save a file in any way that produces an execute command as in the link you quote. This is why I am suggesting there is something odd about this link. Though as we have the full academic suite I cant check on an installation which is only the blackboard Learn component.

CORRECTION I think I can see the cause of the problem - it looks like the instructor has used the add "file" function rather than the more normal add "item" function. I do know there were some issues with files uploaded this way when accessing with some browsers and we advise all our staff to only use add "item". However my PDF seemed to work OK with Firefox - I dont have the PDF plug in and it gave me the alternative to download it. But I agree that files uploaded this way cannot be downloaded using the right click method (this is why we stop people using it) - I would still discuss this with your support people but you can at least point them to this issue

If you are only getting this when trying to open PDF files it suggests to me a browser issue of some sort as I would expect the link for any other type of file to look pretty similar.

I think you need to discuss with your teacher and/or your IT Support people

BhoscaCapall

gbswales wrote: »

I think I can see the cause of the problem - it looks like the instructor has used the add "file" function rather than the more normal add "item" function

That does not sound unlike something a lecturer would do :rolleyes:

Cheers for the help, I'll get onto them about reuploading properly

gbswales

the "file" option should work but it seems to cause problems with some browsers - however I found that
1 - It works in Google Chrome
and
2 - it works in IE and Firefox AFTER I had installed the latest version of Adobe Acrobat Reader from www.adobe.com
Installing or updating this plug in might be the best thing to try initially

RolandIRL

Is this on the college computers or your own? There is an issue with file associations for PDFs in some of the computer suites. Adobe Reader X just fails to load for some reason (and hence the plugin for browsers probably fails as well). You could try using a portable version of Chrome or Firefox from a USB or the U Drive and see if that solves the problem.

If it's on your own laptop, try uninstalling Adobe, run CCleaner, and then install Foxit. Much less bloaty than Adobe and easier to use, I find. Might sort the browser plugin issue.