Faculty Question of the Week (April 09, 2026)

Q: My course has a group assignment where students are using Google Docs for their collaborative work, which is then downloaded as a PDF. One group’s submission is very large. It does not render in DocViewer and does not generate a Turnitin similarity report. Is there a way to resolve this?

A: Yes, there are several options to resolve this issue! This issue occurs because the file exceeds the 100 MB size limit for both DocViewer and Turnitin. When this limit is exceeded, the file cannot render in DocViewer and a Turnitin Similarity Report is not generated. (See the File Requirements page for details on Turnitin and Canvas guide on What types of files can I preview in Canvas?)

In this case, you will likely see the following:

• Similarity Reports are not generated in Turnitin:

• The file cannot render properly in DocViewer:

The easiest solution is to have students reduce the file size before resubmitting.

How to reduce file size

Ask students to try one of the following methods:

1. Re-export from Google Docs

Google Docs PDFs can become very large, especially if they contain high-resolution images. To reduce the size:

1. Open the original Google Doc.
2. Go to File> Download > PDF.
3. Before exporting, resize large images and replace them with lower-resolution versions if possible (especially images with dark backgrounds).

2. Print to PDF from downloaded documents

Printing to PDF can also help reduce file size. There are two ways to do this:

Option 1: From a downloaded PDF:

1. Open the PDF document.
2. Press Ctrl + P to open the print menu.
3. Choose Microsoft Print to PDF as the printer.
4. Save as a new version.

Option 2: Directly from Google Docs:

1. Open your document in Google Docs.
2. Go to File> Print (or press Ctrl + P).
3. In the print window, select Destination > Save as PDF (or Microsoft Print to PDF on Windows).
4. Save a new version.

3. Split the file into multiple PDFs

If neither option above is suitable, students can split the file into 2–3 smaller PDFs and upload them separately to Quercus.

Tip for future assignments

To help avoid this issue in future assessments, it’s a good idea to clearly communicate file size limits in your assignment instructions (for both Quercus and Turnitin, if applicable) and encourage students to check their file size before submitting.

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