Troubleshooting the Google Drive Assignments App

Q: Error Message: We're not able to connect to your Google account

If you're having trouble connecting your Google account to your Schoology account while using our Google Drive Assignment app, follow the steps below.

If you encounter this error the first time you attempt to authorize, it may be because your Google domain has offline access disabled.

If you have previously logged in to the Schoology Google Drive Assignment app, first log into the Google account you have previously used to access the app, and then follow these steps:

1. In your Google account, click the grid in the upper-right.
2. Select My Account.
3. Under Sign In and Security, click Connected Apps and Sites.
4. Under Apps connected to your account, open Manage Apps.
5. Select Schoology.
6. Click Remove.

Now, go back to Schoology, and connect again:

1. In your course, click Add Materials.
2. Select Add Assignment.
3. Launch the Google Drive Assignment app.
4. Connect to your Google account.

Q: Error Message: We're sorry but we are unable to load your document or No login information was received

These messages indicate that your browser is blocking third-party cookies. To enable third-party cookies in different browsers:

In Google Chrome

1. Navigate to: chrome://settings/content/cookies
2. Turn off Block third-party cookies.

In Firefox

1. Navigate to: about:preferences#privacy
2. Under History select Use custom settings for history.
3. Select Accept cookies from sites and set it to Always.

Depending on the security settings on your device, third-party cookies may need to be enabled on a system-wide level.

Q: Error Message: We had some trouble opening your document. Try again by reloading the page

If refreshing the page does not resolve the issue, you may need to force a log out of your Google account and reconnect. Use the Can't see your document? Click here. link in the top right corner of the document to perform this action.

Q: Error Message: {"errors":{"detail":"Failed to retrieve provider email for current user","source":{"exception":"Exception"}}}

This error indicates the person attempting to access the assignment is neither the document owner nor the student. This is typically seen when a co-teacher is attempting to access the assignment. See Q: Can my co-teacher and I both grade student work submitted via Google Drive Assignments?

Q: Error Message: An error has occurred

If you're having trouble connecting to your Google account when attempting to create a Google Drive Assignment, it may be because a Google access token expired or you previously revoked access to the Schoology Google Drive Assignment app directly within Google. Follow the steps below to reconnect to your account:

1. Within your course, click Add Materials and select Add Assignment.
2. Under Assign From App, select Google Drive Assignments.
3. Within the Add Assignment From Google Drive Assignments modal, click Options, and select Account Settings.
4. Select Log Out, and confirm.
5. Select Connect.
6. Log back into your Google account.
7. Files from your Google Drive should now be available.

Q: Does the app require a Consumer Key and Shared Secret?

No, although the Configuration button does display when installing the app, it does not require a consumer key and shared secret to install.

Q: Can I attach multiple documents to an assignment?

You can only attach one item from Google Drive to each assignment.

Q: Can I edit an assignment after it has been created with the Google Drive Assignments app?

You can edit all parts of the assignment (Due Date, Category, Possible Points, etc.) except the Google attachment. If you need to change the assignment to attach a different Google file, you must delete the assignment and create a new one.

Q: Can the instructor make changes within the Google doc after attaching it to an assignment?

Yes, as long as students have not generated their copy yet by clicking My Document in the assignment. Once a student opens their copy of the document, any changes the instructor makes to the original are not reflected in copies created prior to the edits. Edits to the master file only affect subsequent student copies.

Q: Can I create assignments using the Google Drive Assignments app in Resources?

No, the Google Drive Assignments app is only available in courses. By saving an assignment with a Google Drive attachment to your personal or Group Resources, a template is saved of the basic Schoology info. You'll need to copy the template back into a course to reattach the Google file.

Q: Can I copy assignments created with the Google Drive Assignments app?

Unfortunately, no. Google Drive assignments are not portable. Because we are leveraging Google’s permission-sharing capabilities, the Google Drive assignment can only be shared with the teacher who created the assignment and the students who open it, as per the course roster in which the assignment was originally created for. Therefore, when you copy a Google Drive assignment to another course, the Google file does not come with it. Only the Schoology assignment information (title, description, etc.) is retained. You can attach the Google file to the copy of the assignment in the destination course.

Q: I have all my assignments created for the courses I teach and import them from Resources every time we start a new grading period. Can I edit my existing assignments to use the Google Drive Assignments app?

Yes. Click the gear icon, select Edit, then add Google files via the Google Drive Assignments app.

Q: What happens if I delete the Schoology folders and/or my students' files from Google Drive?

We caution strongly against this. Since Google is ultimately a separate system, we do not have a way to retrieve this work if you delete it. If you delete the top-level Schoology folder or the course-level folder, a new folder will be created the next time you create a new Google assignment in your course and a student generates a copy from that new assignment.

However, we cannot retrieve the deleted files. Once student copies are deleted, there is no way to re-connect those files to the Schoology integration.

We suggest being especially careful not to delete the folders–the higher up you go in the folder structure, the more student work you are potentially affecting.

Q: How do I delete an assignment that was added using the Google Drive Assignments app?

To permanently remove an assignment from the student's Google Drive, you must delete the assignment from your Google Drive and Schoology.

From the Google Drive document, click the Trash icon to delete the assignment.

Since deleting the assignment in Google Drive will not remove it from Schoology, you must also delete the assignment in Schoology. Click the gear icon

Once you remove the assignment from your Google Drive and Schoology, students will no longer be able to view or access the document.

Q: Can my co-teacher and I both grade student work submitted via the Google Drive Assignments app?

Unfortunately, no. Because we are leveraging Google’s permission-sharing capabilities, at this time, all student copies are only shared with the teacher who created the assignment and the student who opens it. All other visitors to the course, whether co-teachers, admins, advisors, will not be able to see the submission.

As a workaround, the course admin who created the assignment can share to any co-teachers and other faculty directly from Google Drive. All student copies are organized into Google Drive folders by course and assignment. This way, the primary teacher may push out all assignments to students in Schoology and share submissions directly from Google Drive via the folder with all student work to the co-teacher. The co-teacher can then view the assignments through Schoology or directly in Google Drive.

Q: Can parents view Google Drive Assignment submissions?

Unfortunately, no. Because we are leveraging Google’s permission-sharing capabilities, at this time, all student copies are only shared with the teacher who created the assignment and the student who opens it. All other visitors to the course, whether parents, co-teachers, advisors, will not be able to see the submission. Parents will see an "Access Denied" error message when attempting to access the assignment.

Q: I have content across multiple Google accounts – can I use both of them?

We caution against this. We recommend that one Google account be used to create all Google Drive assignments for the entire section.

If you have created Google Drive assignments with one Google account, and then you log out of the app, your students will no longer be able to access the existing assignments via Schoology. When this occurs, students will see the error message: We had some trouble opening your document. Try again by reloading the page.

To resolve this error, the teacher who created the assignments must log in to the Google Drive Assignments app with the original Google account.

Q: I have multiple Schoology accounts and want to connect the same Gmail account to both. Can I do that?

Yes.

Q: I'm trying to embed an image into a Google file when viewing it in Schoology, and I keep getting a blank screen.

This is a Google limitation. When you embed a Google doc, it is embedded in an iframe and you can't access some of the Google menu options. This issue is specific to any of the menu items that actually use an iframe themselves–such as the Insert Image menu–because Google prevents displaying an iframe-within-an-iframe. Schoology has no control over this.

Q: My student can't remember which Google account they used to connect to the app and access their assignment.

You can help them out by navigating to your Google Drive, and going to an assignment they’ve worked on previously (Schoology Google Drive Assignments > your course-level folder > assignment>level folder) and identify one of their previously completed assignments. Access the Share settings for that document–each file belongs to you (the instructor) and is then shared with the student, so the other email address in the share settings that is not your email address is the one that the student used to connect to the app.

Q: I can't see the document when I open the app. What should I do?

Sometimes, errors can occur for students and instructors trying to view a Google document because:

• A student attempts to view a file and discovers they no longer have access. A Google account and/or privileges had previously given them access to the file, but now they are using a different Google account and cannot access it.
• A student or instructor attempts to view a file and discovers they no longer have access. They are logged into Schoology but are not actually logged into a Google account.

These errors can be resolved by logging out of the Google Drive Assignments app and logging back in. Schoology has added a link to make this process easier. To learn more about this link, see our article on Reconnecting the Google Drive Assignments App with Force Logout.

Q: Can a student make changes to a submitted document?

When a student has completed their work on a Google Drive assignment, the student can submit the item by clicking the Submit button on the top right of the modal.

The student is able to Unsubmit the assignment prior to the due date or grading. If the due date has not yet passed, the student will see the ability to unsubmit in the top right of the modal with the message, "The assignment has not yet been graded." This way, the student can revise if they are receiving ongoing feedback prior to grading.

Once the assignment is submitted, the student may only unsubmit if the due date has not yet passed. If the due date has passed, the user will see the message below: