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Annotate PRO is now Canopy.

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Canopy Assist

Canopy Assist helps you analyze individual documents to draft feedback, identify patterns, or even generate a discussion guide.

A Canopy Template provides the instructions that your chosen AI will use to read the document and draft a response. You can upload a doc or use Canopy Assist with Google Docs, Canvas SpeedGrader, or D2L/Brightspace document submissions.

Your Template might include a detailed rubric, guidance on focus or tone, or even a list of online resources that the AI can use to guide a response.

Use the Canopy AI option to save steps and return the analysis in Preview window. This option shares the data you’re analyzing with 11trees. See privacy details below. Or choose Approved AI  to quickly copy/paste the results into your institution’s preferred AI solution. Note: institutional users may have these choices predefined for them by their Canopy admin.

Figure 1: Canopy Assist used with a Canvas SpeedGrader document. 

How To Use Assist with Google Docs/Canvas/D2L

  1. Make sure Canopy is in Form mode by clicking the ‘c’ in the Chrome toolbar and choosing Form instead of Insert or View.
  2. Open the Google Doc, Canvas SpeedGrader submission, or D2L/Brightspace submission as if you wanted to comment on the document.
  3. Open a Canopy Template by clicking a Favorite button in the Canopy toolbar, right-clicking to browse your Canopy Templates, or using search in the toolbar or Canopy popup. You’ll see your Template on the left of the resulting page with a preview of its instructions on the right.
  4. Check whether Canopy AI or Approved AI is selected to your liking (institutional users may not be able to choose Canopy AI). Canopy will remember your preference.
  5. Click Actions in the bottom right of the windows and choose Draft submission analysis.
  6. Canopy will read the document visible on the page, the LMS rubric (if available), and use your Template to provide instructions to the AI.
    1. Using Canopy AI: a draft response will appear in the Preview pane.
    2. Using Approved AI: Canopy will provide you with an easy way to Copy the AI package so you can paste it into your preferred AI. Or, if your cursor is now on the web version of Gemini, ChatGPT, or Claude, you’ll see the option to insert directly. Click Submit in your preferred AI solution to receive a draft response you can review and use.

To Use Assist with an uploaded file

  1. Make sure Canopy is in Form mode by clicking the ‘c’ in the Chrome toolbar and choosing Form instead of Insert or View.
  2. Open a Canopy Template by clicking a Favorite button in the Canopy toolbar, right-clicking to browse your Canopy Templates, or using search in the toolbar or Canopy popup. You’ll see your Template on the left of the resulting page with a preview of its instructions on the right.
  3. Check whether Canopy AI or Approved AI is selected to your liking (institutional users may not be able to choose Canopy AI). Canopy will remember your preference.
  4. Click Actions in the bottom right of the windows and choose Upload student work.
  5.  Upload a docx, PDF, CSV, or TXT file from your computer. Canopy will read the document and use your Template to provide instructions to the AI.
    1. Using Canopy AI: a draft response will appear in the Preview pane.
    2. Using Approved AI: Canopy will provide you with an easy way to Copy the AI package so you can paste it into your preferred AI. Or, if your cursor is now on the web version of Gemini, ChatGPT, or Claude, you’ll see the option to insert directly. Click Submit in your preferred AI solution to receive a draft response you can review and use.

Where Can You Use Assist?

Important: Canopy is aware of the tab you are working. It displays the tab it will use in the colored callout. See Figure 1 above: “You are using Canopy with Anthropology Paper (ANT101)” tells the user which tab has focus.

Canvas. Canopy retrieves the submission visible in SpeedGrader. If there are several supported files, Canopy will asks which one to use. If there is no file submission, in the case of text-entry responses, Canopy uses the submission text.

D2L. Canopy looks for a downloadable submission first, then a rich-text submission on the page to support .

Google Docs and Classroom. Canopy reads the text of the open Google Doc. In Classroom it works only when it can identify exactly one native Google Doc on the page. If several document previews are open, it stops rather than risk reading the wrong student’s work. If the attachment is a PDF, Word file, or other Drive file, download it and use Upload student work option.

Google Docs analysis is text only. Canopy does not see images, comments, suggestion history, grades, or a class roster.

FAQ

  1. What data does Canopy collect?
    1. Canopy does not retain student submissions or LMS data. Canopy does not use the data to train AI or allow its processor (Google Gemini) to use the data for training. The Approved AI option assures that no LMS or student data ever reaches Canopy. See https://www.11trees.com/privacy-policy/ for more.
  2. How does Canopy instruct AI?
    1. Canopy treats everything from the LMS and students as evidence, not instructions, and the AI is told not to follow commands hidden in student work. Copying a package to your clipboard can expose it to clipboard history or device-management software, so paste only into destinations your institution approves. Canopy does not store uploaded files in browser storage or logs.
  3. What file types are supported and to what size?
    1. You can upload PDF, DOCX, TXT, or CSV files up to 14 MB. Image files (photos, screenshots, PNG, JPG) are not supported.
    2. For CSV files, Canopy reads the first row as column headers and tells the AI about blank cells, duplicate headers, and any trimming.
    3. For image-heavy or layout-sensitive work, an approved AI with the original attached, is usually the better route. The Chrome extension works best with text-first written work.
  4. Does Approved AI mode differ from Canopy AI?
    1. In Approved AI mode, Canopy extracts text on your computer. PDFs are limited to 75 pages, and extracted text is limited to 1,000,000 characters. Scanned PDFs, or PDFs where fewer than 60% of pages contain readable text, cannot be used in this mode. Canopy does not read images, handwriting, margin notes, or page layout, and it does not do OCR.
    2. Canopy AI mode can read PDFs visually, including scanned handwriting, and will flag anything it cannot read clearly.
  5. How does Canopy handle LMS rubrics?
    1. Canopy includes a structured rubric when Canvas or D2L provides one for the assignment you are analyzing. Google Docs and uploads never include an LMS rubric. However, your Template’s text, including any rubric language you include, is sent.

Troubleshooting

  1. Canopy did not read the paper
    1. In Canvas, open SpeedGrader on the correct submission attempt. In D2L, confirm the right submission is open and that it is a PDF, DOCX, or TXT file. In Google Classroom, confirm the page is a submission with a single native Google Doc. If nothing works, download the file and use Upload student work.
  2. My PDF was blocked in Approved AI
    1. It is probably scanned or mostly images. Attach the original in your approved AI and use Send the Template ONLY.
  3. My image or photo will not upload
    1. Images are not supported in either mode. Attach the original directly in your approved AI and use Send the Template ONLY.
  4. Insert into AI is disabled
    1. Open ChatGPT, Claude, or Gemini in the active tab, click into its prompt box, then return to Canopy. Packages over 100,000 characters must be copied instead. Canopy also warns you when a package is very large, since some AI services may reject or shorten it.
  5. An action in the Action menu is missing or greyed out
    1. Check that you are on a supported page (see the table above).

Need more help?

Contact 11trees support and tell us your LMS, the page you were on, the action you chose, whether you used Approved AI or Canopy AI, and any message Canopy displayed. Please do not include student names or work in your message.