Embedding Office 365 Files in Blackboard

The purpose of embedding is to be able to update Microsoft Office files without having to go back into Blackboard to re-upload or update the file. This saves time, and hopefully you will find this convenient. Embedding the files also allows students to view without downloading the files for each access.

Embedding Your Microsoft Office Files

The first step to take before embedding your files within Blackboard is to open your file in Word Online.

Click on the File tab (Figure 1).

Figure 1: Syllabus opened in Word Online. Click the File tab (1)

After opening your document, you should see a Share button at the top, right-hand corner of the page

(Figure 2).

Figure 2: Share button in Word Online

Click the Share button. You will now see a Share dialog box pop up in your web browser (Figure 3). Be

sure that Get a link is selected in the left hand menu. Select “Edit link – no sign-in required” from the

drop down menu (1) and then select the link by left clicking on it (2).

Figure 3: Share button in Word Online

After you have selected your link, copy it by right-clicking on the link and selecting Copy or by selecting

the link and pressing the keyboard combination Ctrl + C. Your link has now been copied to your

computer’s clipboard. The next step is to open your course in Blackboard.

Pasting the Embed Code in Blackboard

Log in to Blackboard and navigate to your course. In this tutorial, I created a Syllabus in Microsoft Office,

so it would be fitting to include that embed code in a Syllabus item. Click on Syllabus, and you should

see your content page appear.

If you do not already have an item created within this page, click on Build Content and select Item. If

you already have an item created, click on the grey down arrow by the title of the item and select Edit.

You should see the Edit Item screen in either case.

Figure 4: Edit Item page in Blackboard

At this stage, you should see the text editor below the name and color items. Look for the HTML button.

Figure 5: Click the HTML button to bring up the HTML code view window

Click the HTML button, and a HTML code view window should pop up. This is where we will be pasting

the link you copied from your Word Online document earlier. Click anywhere in the white box and

paste the link by right-clicking and selecting Paste or by pressing the keyboard combination Ctrl + V.

You should now see your link pasted in the HTML code view window (Figure 6).

Figure 6: The link pasted from Word Online

The next step requires you to copy the iframe code below and paste it in the same HTML code view

window. Select the iframe code below by clicking and dragging your mouse over the code and then

copying it by right-clicking on your selection and choosing Copy or by pressing the keyboard

combination Ctrl + C.

<p><iframe width="600" height="800"

src="YOURGETWEBLINK&amp;action=embedview&amp;wdbipreview=true"

frameborder="0"></iframe></p>

After you have copied the code above, navigate back to the HTML code view window. You may need to

select it from your taskbar, as it has opened in a new window from Blackboard. Paste the iframe code

above in the white box below your link (Figure 7).

Figure 7: The iframe code pasted from this document

This is the most important part: You will be replacing the text YOURGETWEBLINK with the link you

pasted from Word Online earlier, at the top of the HTML code view window. Select the link from Word

Online by clicking and dragging your mouse over the text. Cut the text by right-clicking your selection

and choosing Cut or by pressing the keyboard combination Ctrl + X (Figure 8). Your link is now on your

computer’s clipboard.

Figure 8: Cutting the link you pasted earlier

You will now select the text YOURGETWEBLINK with your mouse by clicking and dragging over the text

YOURGETWEBLINK. Paste the link you copied earlier by right-clicking your selection and choosing Paste

or by pressing the keyboard combination Ctrl + V (Figure 9). Your link will now be placed within the

iframe code, which is the intended result (Figure 10). Click Update to apply your changes.

Figure 9: Pasting the link into the iframe code

Figure 10: The result of replacing the text YOURGETWEBLINK with the link from Word

Online

After clicking Update, you should see a yellow placeholder in your text editor within Blackboard (Figure

11). This is where your document will appear. Click Submit to save your changes.

Figure 11: Yellow Placeholder

Your Microsoft Word document is now embedded in your Blackboard item. The better news is

that you can update your file in Office 365 (Word Online) and your changes will automatically update

here. There is no need to edit the Blackboard item further unless you decide to embed another

document or add/edit text.

Figure 12: Result of OneDrive embed. Our Word document is embedded in the course

Figure 13: Menu at the bottom, right-hand corner

of the embedded document. Students can

download, print, or enable accessibility mode

from this area.

Uses for Embedded Files

In addition to embedding syllabi, there are other uses for embedded files:

• Assignment instructions and other course documents
• PowerPoint lectures
• Excel worksheets for certain disciplines