Overview
By default, many Harmonize activity types (Discussions, Peer Review, and Individual Assignments) display a text row where you can draft or copy-and-paste content. The text editor offers a variety of features to support ease-of-use and accessibility while encouraging substantial, authentic participation.
Text Formatting and Editing Options
At the top of the text row, you will see options for formatting and editing your text.
- Format includes options for adding headings and subheadings, turning items into bulleted lists, and changing whether text appears bolded, italicized, and underlined.
- Alignment includes options for aligning and indenting text.
- Text color changes the color of your text.
- Insert/edit link allows you to add a link and control all settings for the link, including title.
- Equation editor allows you to create an equation. This is a LaTeX equation editor that will automatically display alt text.
Adding Additional Rows
You can also add additional rows of text using the content row below the Add Media Files area.
This is useful for creating distinct sections of text or interspersing text with other media such as video, audio, or polls.
Note: All text rows will count toward the word count minimum if one is set.
Fixing "Bad" Text Formatting
Are you having trouble formatting your text with the spacing and sizing you want? Sometimes text in the text row will look strange because it's carrying hidden formatting that you cannot edit. This usually happens when you copy and paste text.
To prevent "bad" text formatting: Always paste text without formatting and then use the Harmonize formatting tools to fix the formatting. The keyboard shortcuts for pasting text without formatting are:
- Mac: Cmd+Shift+V
- Windows: Ctrl+Shift+V
To fix "bad" text formatting:
- Create a new text row.
- Copy text from the old row and paste it into the new row without formatting.
- Delete the old row.
Adding Links to Text Rows
You can add links to the text area by copying and pasting them them directly like this:
See Adding Links for more information.
16,000 Character Limit
In Harmonize, there is a 16,000 character limit for a text row. If you reach this limit, you will see this message:
If you see this message, it is probably for one of two reasons:
- Your text contains more than 16,000 characters in the form of letters, spaces, and punctuation.
- Your text was copy and pasted from somewhere else and contains more than 16,000 characters because it carries hidden formatting.
Try the following solutions:
- Add an additional Text Row to your post by clicking the Add Text button.
- For copy and pasted text, use keyboard shortcuts to paste text without formatting:
- Mac: Cmd+Shift+V
- Windows: Ctrl+Shift+V
-
Attach the document or PDF to your post via the Add Media row.
- Note: This is not a good solution if the assignment has a word count minimum as attachments won't count toward that minimum. See Word Count (and Word Count Minimum).
Word Count (and Word Count Minimum)
Harmonize automatically displays a word count below the text row for posts and comments.
If there is a word count minimum, the word count will be red until you meet it and green after you meet it. If there is a word count minimum, you will see a warning if you haven't met it yet.
There are a few important things to know about the word count:
- All text rows count toward the total word count for the post. However many text rows you add, they will all count.
- Attachments don't count toward the word count. If your assignment has a minimum word count, text will need to be posted in the text row, not attached.
See Milestone Word Count Minimums for more details.
TurnItIn Integration
If your school uses TurnItIn, text in the text row may be sent to TurnItIn. If the instructor chooses to send assignment posts to TurnItIn, students will receive a notice and will see their TurnItIn score.
There are a few important things to know about TurnItIn in Harmonize:
- TurnItIn only works for posts (not comments) in Discussions, Assignments, and Peer Review. Comments will not be sent to TurnItIn. Top-level annotations or replies in the Social Reading (PDF Annotation) tool will not be sent to TurnItIn.
- TurnItIn only looks at text in the text row. Work in an attachment will not be sent to TurnItIn. Line comments (document critique) will not be sent to TurnItIn.
See TurnItIn Faculty and Student View for more details.
Student AI Coaching
Any text placed in the text can receive AI Coaching (if it is enabled). AI Coaching works on any text in posts or comments as well as on text in attachments. See AI Student Coaching for more information.
Unsupported Content
The text editor does not support all kinds of content and formatting. If you copy and paste content into the text editor that is disallowed, it will be removed from the text editor. For example, embedded content is not supported. We recommend pasting plain text into the editor and then formatting it using the tools in the editor. The keyboard shortcuts to paste text without formatting are:
- Mac: Cmd+Shift+V
- Windows: Ctrl+Shift+V
Frequently Asked Questions
Q. I'm trying to link to videos that live somewhere other than YouTube. Why aren't my videos coming through? Is there a way to embed them?
- YouTube links are special. When you link to YouTube videos, they will automatically appear in a player directly on the page. You don't need embed code. This may or may not be possible with other video platforms: it depends on how those platforms have configured their videos to preview. We do not allow embedding for security reasons, but you can always link out to other platforms.