Saving and Reopening Files

This guide explains how BlackboardView keeps track of your lesson files, how it’s able to save your in-class additions back to the original file, and what to expect when you reopen the app for a later class.

Your File Stays in Your Control

BlackboardView doesn’t copy your lesson file into some separate, hidden storage area. When you import a lesson, the app works directly with the original file, wherever it lives — whether that’s in the Files app, iCloud Drive, Google Drive, or another location on your iPad. This means:

• Edits you make elsewhere to that file (for example, if you also edit it on your computer) will be reflected the next time you import or reopen it in BlackboardView.
• BlackboardView doesn’t create duplicate copies you need to keep track of.

Why the App Sometimes Asks for Permission

The first time BlackboardView needs to save something back into your original file — for example, after you confirm “Save additions to file?” at the end of a session (see Using Hotspots) — your iPad may show a one-time permission prompt confirming that BlackboardView is allowed to write to that file’s location.

This is a standard iOS security feature, not something specific to BlackboardView — any app that writes to a file you imported from elsewhere on your device goes through this same kind of check. Simply approve the prompt to allow the save to complete.

Once granted, BlackboardView remembers this permission for that specific file, so you won’t be asked again for future sessions with the same lesson — including after closing and reopening the app, or even restarting your iPad.

Reopening a Lesson for a Later Class

BlackboardView remembers the last file you had open, making it quick to pick up where you left off:

1. Open BlackboardView.
2. Your most recently used lesson is ready to go — tap Start to begin teaching it again.
3. If you’d like to open a different lesson instead, use Import a Lesson from the Home screen as usual.

Because your saved additions from a previous class were written directly into the file (if you chose Yes when asked), reopening the same file for a new class period will show those additions too — along with any hotspot markers (??) that are still available for that new class to fill in fresh.

If You Move or Rename Your File

If you move, rename, or delete the original file outside of BlackboardView (for example, in the Files app or in cloud storage), the app may no longer be able to find it automatically the next time you open it. If this happens, simply use Import a Lesson again and browse to the file’s new location — BlackboardView will pick up right where it left off with that file’s content once it’s reselected.

What’s Next

• Using Hotspots — how in-class additions get saved back to your file
• Ad-Hoc Blank Blackboards — another kind of addition that goes through the same save process
• The Lesson File Format — what your saved file actually looks like