Use an existing PDF (experimental)

Choose the workflow

Instructors with experimental features enabled can choose Use an existing PDF when creating an exam. The choice is fixed for that exam. The workflow is Template → Rubric → Scan → Grade → Report. Ordinary authored or Word/LaTeX-imported exams continue to use Build and Print.

Upload the original blank exam PDF, not a completed student copy. The limit is 50 MB and 50 pages. Your organization needs an import AI model. After choosing a file, you can add special instructions, including whether multipart questions should be graded together or independently. Separate grading requires physically separate answer areas.

Review the template

Compare every proposed question, transcription, point value, figure, and answer region with the PDF. Review import warnings. Missing point values may receive defaults; they need your review. Select Name region and make sure it covers the printed area where students write their names.

Region changes save automatically. Question text and points have separate Edit, Save changes, and Cancel controls. Undo/redo covers region and question-structure edits in the current tab; it does not undo explicit text or points saves. Wait for saving to complete before leaving.

Use the import control to replace an unpublished draft PDF, with confirmation. Published versions are read-only. Restore vN to draft creates an editable revision; publishing it creates another version and leaves earlier scans, rubrics, and grades attached to their original version.

Publish and prepare rubrics

Publish draft freezes the version immediately. Crop preparation runs in the background, and you can open Rubric while it finishes. Scanning requires crop preparation to be ready. A preparation failure needs attention before scanning; contact support if the published version cannot finish preparation.

Advanced crop diagnostics are optional. Their simulated scans help choose a crop method; they do not guarantee recovery of real handwriting, especially writing outside designated answer areas. Inspect actual student crops and keep the original paper.

In Rubric, open a question to edit, preview, and publish its rubric. AI suggestions do not change a draft until you apply them. You can also upload a rubric PDF, review the matched questions, and select Use imported rubrics to replace their drafts. Also publish publishes those imported rubrics as well. Existing published revisions remain in history. If a draft changed after the import began, import again so those edits are not silently overwritten.

Print, scan, and review

Print copies of your original PDF. Upload completed scans as a PDF or a ZIP containing PDFs. Keep every student's complete exam together in original page order, including blank pages. ZIP PDFs are concatenated by filename, case-insensitively; use zero-padded names to preserve order. Packet boundaries may cross PDF members. The combined page count must be a multiple of the template's page count. This workflow uses page order and template geometry, not QR labels.

Each copy becomes an anonymous packet. Review uncertain answer/name crops and match packets to the roster. Looks good accepts a proposed crop; Adjust crop lets you draw a replacement on the original scan. When alignment produced no usable crop, draw the region manually. Existing grading and competing scans can block replacement. A full-page fallback name preview is for human review and is not sent to AI for matching.

Continue with grading and reports. An unconfirmed AI name suggestion does not release a report or authorize an LMS export.

Copying and deletion

Course copying, including demo copying, is currently unavailable for a course containing a PDF template exam. Create a new course and upload the original blank PDFs there. The source course stays intact when a copy is rejected.

The normal exam/course deletion controls also apply to template exams. Deleting an exam or course does not mean every original scan upload has been erased; retained upload records keep their captured template evidence. For accidental-upload cleanup, use the separately confirmed scan upload deletion action before deleting the exam.