Downloading and Viewing Documents

You may not be able to view course documents directly from the Browser window. Instead, you will need to copy the documents to your computer. If you are working on a lab computer, you will want to save the files to a disk or flash drive.

The Mac uses the Download Manager to copy the file to either your desktop or the hard drive. When you click a link to a document from the Blackboard course, the Download Manager window will open, a progress bar will indicate the download; the word "complete" will be displayed in the status column when the file has finished copying. Close the Download Manager; close or shrink other windows (you don't have to quit or exit the browser or other open applications) and look for the file on the desktop. If it doesn't appear there, double-click the hard drive icon, and look for it there. It SHOULD be in one of these two places.

Sometimes, when the Manager has finished copying, Word will start automatically and open the document you copied. If it doesn't, look for the file on the desktop. If the icon for the file looks like a normal Word document, you can double-click it to open it. If the icon looks like a blank sheet of paper, you will have to open Word (or another application that you expect this document was created in) first, go to the file menu, navigate to the file and open it this way. Saving it again, will tell the computer that this is a Word file and it will display the Word icon.

Creating Documents on the Mac for Assignments, etc.

Mac files should have a file extension included as part of the filename for other people to be able to open the file, whether emailing or submitting the assignment through Blackboard. This is added when you save the document. Make sure the check box to add the extension is checked in the Save window. You can also type in the file extension. Be sure to use the proper three letter extensions for the particular file type you are using,  or others may not be able to open the file. For example, the correct extension for Microsoft Word, Excel, and Powerpoint are .doc, .xls, and .ppt respectively.