Using the Digital Dropbox

What is the Digital Drop Box?

Blackboard’s Digital Drop Box feature is designed to facilitate file exchange between students and instructors within the Blackboard system. The drop box feature is generally used as a method to submit homework assignments and papers for grading and/or revision.

Do all of my instructors use the Digital Drop Box?

Not all instructors choose to use the Digital Drop Box feature. You should always submit assignments according to the guidelines your instructor has provided.

Where do I find the Digital Drop Box?

By default, the Digital Drop Box is available under the “Tools” section of your course menu.

To access the Digital Drop Box, click the "Digital Drop Box" link from the Tools menu.

How do I use the Digital Drop Box?

Once you’ve accessed the Digital Drop Box, you’ll see the following menu:

The Digital Drop Box provides two main functions, adding files and sending files.

Please Note:
Files added to the dropbox are NOT automatically sent to your instructor.
In order to send a file to your instructor, you must use the “Send File” button.

Adding Files
Files can be added to the drop box at any time for holding purposes. For instance, you can upload a document that you were working on from a campus computer lab and download it later from home to continue working on your file.

To add a file to your drop box, click the "Add File" button.

Title: This is the heading that will appear above your file in Blackboard.

File: Click the “Browse” button and select the document from your computer that you wish to add to the drop box.

Comments: Any additional comments you would like to add concerning the file you are adding.

Once you have filled in the information, click the submit button to add your file to the dropbox. Each file can be no more than 5MB in size.

Sending Files
Files are sent to instructors using the Send File button. You can send files that have already been added to the dropbox, or send a file directly from your computer.

To send a file to your instructor, click the “Send File” button.

To send a file that has already been added to your drop box, simply choose the file you wish to send from the “Select file” drop-down menu and click Submit.

To send a file directly from your computer you will need to enter a title, select the file, and add any additional comments you may wish to include along with the file.

Title: This is the heading that will appear above your file in Blackboard.

File: Click the “Browse” button and select the document from your computer that you wish to add to the Digital Drop Box.

Comments: Any additional comments you would like to add concerning the file you are adding.

Once you have filled in the information, click the submit button to send your file to your instructor. Each file can be no more than 5MB in size.

Did I send the file?

Once a file has been sent to the instructor, you should receive a success message similar to the example below.

Receipt: Success
John Doe - Assignment 1 has been sent to the Instructor(s).

In addition to the receipt, your drop box will display a message indicating the exact time your file was sent to the instructor.