5 minutesXello gives students and educators the ability to include Google Drive files in assignments, Portfolios, and more. There are two ways to add a file from Google Drive: You can either include a copy of your document directly from Google Drive or use the shareable link option.
Educators are able to use Google Drive when creating an Assignment or Dashboard resource. Students are able to do so when submitting an Assignment or adding to their Portfolio.
Create a copy of a Google Drive document
When you're in your educator account or a student is in their student account, anytime a Google Drive icon is visible, follow the steps below to create a copy of a document to upload into Xello.
- If you’re not already logged into Google, enter your login.
FYI: Don't worry - you're logging directly into Google and we cannot store or see your login information. - Once you have access to your Google Drive, find and click on the document you want to include.
- Once it's uploaded, click Done.
- A PDF will automatically be created.
Note: Because the version in Xello is a copy, any changes you make to the document in Google Drive after you've uploaded it will not be reflected in the PDF.
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Include a shareable link to a Google Drive document
If you want to include a document to support the assignment but want to be able to make changes the students will be able to see, include a shareable link to a Google Drive document instead. This means when you make changes to the document in your Google Drive, your students will see the changes whenever they visit that same link again.
To include a shareable link to a Google Drive document:
- Go to your Google Drive. Right-click the name of the document you want to include and select Get shareable link. The link will be copied to your clipboard.
- Back in Xello, in the New Assignment window, place your cursor in the Instructions for students section where you would like to insert the link.
- From the far right of the menu located at the top of the Instructions for students section, click the insert link icon to open the Create a link action box.
- Paste the link you copied from Google Drive in the Enter your link here text box.
- If you would like the visible content of the link to be something other than the URL, enter the link text in the second text box.
- Click Add link.
- When your students click on the link, it will open in a separate tab.
Note: Google gives you the option to allow users to view or edit the document in the Share settings. Please ensure these settings are correct in Google Drive as Xello cannot change the Share settings in Google.
