FOUNDATIONS · HANDWRITING, CHINESE AND MATH, GRADED IN SPEEDGRADER

Writing on a PDF in OneNote

Students write on your worksheet in OneNote — by hand, in Chinese characters, or in math — and turn in one PDF you grade in SpeedGrader like any other upload. Every RJ laptop already has OneNote. Nothing to buy, nothing to install.

GIVE STUDENTS THIS PAGE

Every step, with a picture for each click. Copy it into your course and link it in the assignment.

STUDENT STEPS →

Word first. Every student now has a school-managed Windows laptop with Word. When you can, share a Word file: students type right in, AutoSave keeps their work, and they turn in the same file. When it has to be a PDF, OneNote is one of three ways. The student page Working on a PDF: Edge, Word or OneNote shows all three, with a picture for every click. To pick a format and set up the assignment, see Assign a Worksheet: Word First, or a PDF They Can Mark Up.

Good for any class where the answer is easier to write than to type: Chinese and other world languages (characters, accents, stroke order), math and science (showing work, graphs, diagrams), and anything students circle, label or mark up.

A Chinese worksheet: the model character, the same character written twice with a pen, and a word typed with the Chinese keyboard.

A math problem from the worksheet, with each step written by hand in blue next to it, on grid paper.

01 The one step students skip

Before saving the PDF, the page must be set to Tabloid. Left on Auto, the worksheet comes back to you cut in half. Nothing the student wrote moves.

Left: left on Auto, the worksheet is cut across two pages. Right: set to Tabloid, the whole worksheet is on one page.

OneNote View tab, Paper Size button boxed. In the Paper Size pane, Size is set to Tabloid.

02 Your part — three steps

1Post the worksheet as a PDF.

In Word: File → Save As → PDF. Leave room to write. Attach it to the assignment.

2Set the assignment to take PDFs only.

Canvas assignment settings: Online, File Uploads checked, Restrict Upload File Types checked, pdf typed in the box.

Online → File Uploads → Restrict Upload File Types → pdf. Then no one can hand you a link or a OneNote file. Canvas guide →

Paste into the assignment: Do this worksheet in OneNote and turn it in as a PDF. Steps: How to turn in a OneNote worksheet

3Grade it in SpeedGrader.

SpeedGrader: the student worksheet on the left with red check marks and a sticky note, the grade and comment box on the right.

The PDF opens on the left. Mark it with the pen, highlighter or comments, then score it on the right. Students see your marks on their page. A new upload can take a few minutes to show. Canvas guide →

03 Give students the steps

Open How to turn in a OneNote worksheet → the ⋮ menu at the top right → Copy To → pick your course. The pictures come with it. Mandarin classes: copy How to turn in a Chinese worksheet in OneNote instead. Canvas guide →

What students see · the main OneNote screens on their page

Once, before any worksheet goes in: File → Options → Advanced → both Printouts boxes → OK.

OneNote Options, Advanced. Under Printouts, both boxes are checked. Then OK.

Each worksheet: Insert → File Printout. If it moves when they write: right-click → Set Picture as Background, on every page.

OneNote Insert tab with File Printout boxed in red.

Before turning in: File → Export → Page → PDF → Export.

OneNote File, Export: Page, then PDF, then the Export button.

04 More, when you need it

汉字 Chinese · what students set up · 2 min

Chinese keyboard, once: Windows Settings → Time & language → Language & region → Add a language → Chinese (Simplified, China).
Typing: Windows key + Space switches keyboards. Type pinyin (tianqi), pick 天气.
Handwriting: Draw tab → a pen → write in the boxes. You can see their stroke order.
Grading: the pen in SpeedGrader lets you correct a stroke right on the character.

Teach Mandarin? Give students How to turn in a Chinese worksheet in OneNote instead. It adds the keyboard setup and character tips to the same steps.

𝑥² Math · grid paper and typed equations · 2 min

Grid paper: View → Rule Lines → pick a grid. It fills the space around the worksheet.
Typed equations: Draw → Ink to Math → write it by hand → Insert.
Heads up: the Math button on the Draw tab can solve an equation and show the steps. Students have it too.
Save time: set the grid and Tabloid once, then View → Paper Size → Save current page as a template.

Putting a PDF into OneNote the right way · for you and your students · 2 min

This is for students — and for you, if you write on PDFs in OneNote for your own work or with students.

1 · Turn on the Printouts setting first. File → Options → Advanced → check both Printouts boxes → OK. It only locks PDFs you put in after you check the boxes.

2 · Always put a PDF in as a printout: Insert → File Printout.

Dragged or pasted the PDF in? OneNote asks what to do. Choose Insert Printout.

OneNote Insert File window. Insert Printout is boxed in red.

See a little file icon instead of the pages? Right-click it → Insert as Printout.

Right-click menu on a PDF file icon in OneNote. Insert as Printout is boxed in red.

3 · Pages move when you write? The setting was off when the PDF went in. Right-click the page → Set Picture as Background. Each page is its own picture, so do it on every page.

Right-click menu on the worksheet. Set Picture as Background is boxed in red.

A student’s PDF looks wrong · what to tell them

What you see	What to tell them
Cut in half or cut off	View → Paper Size → Tabloid, then File → Export → Page → PDF again.
They followed the old OneNote handout	Its Print → Microsoft Print to PDF and screenshot options cut big worksheets. Send them the student page.
Answers do not line up with the questions	They resized the worksheet after writing. Ctrl + Z to undo. Change the paper size, never the worksheet.
The worksheet slides or erases with their ink	Right-click the worksheet → Set Picture as Background — on every page; each page is its own picture. It happens when the Printouts setting was checked after the worksheet went in.
A little file icon instead of the worksheet	Right-click the icon → Insert as Printout.
“I can’t find Export” or “No File Printout button”	Wrong OneNote. Open the OneNote app from the Start menu, not OneNote in the browser.
They sent a OneNote link	SpeedGrader cannot open it. Ask for the PDF. PDF-only uploads stop this.

Writing on PDFs yourself · readings, handouts, answer keys · 3 min

The same rules apply to your own PDFs: turn on the Printouts setting first, and always put a PDF in as a printout. See Putting a PDF into OneNote the right way above.
Stroke Eraser (Draw tab) erases one whole stroke at a touch.
Lasso Select circles ink to move or delete just that — it cannot grab the worksheet.
Any app can send a file to OneNote: Print → choose OneNote (Desktop) as the printer.
OneMore, the add-in that comes up in searches, is not checked for school laptops — ask the Technology Office first.

OneNote video training

Microsoft’s short videos across the whole app. No account needed.

WATCH →

Printouts in the background

Microsoft’s own note on the setting that locks the worksheet.

OPEN →

Microsoft Educator badge

Five short modules, one on OneNote. Free, self-paced. More: Badges worth earning.

START →

Tabloid before export, background before writing. Those two settings are nearly always the whole problem.

Jason Beyer · Educational Technology · Regis Jesuit High School · A.M.D.G.

HelpDesk@regisjesuit.com · 303.269.8080 · LAST VERIFIED — 30 September 2026. OneNote screenshots from OneNote for Windows; the Canvas, SpeedGrader and example pictures are drawings.