‘Force a “Comments version” Copy’ Integration Activity…

Google recently announced the ability to make a copy of a Google Doc w/ all the comments &/or suggestions from the original document replicated. (You can read about it here)

By the time of this posting, after November 29th 2017, all users have the feature and can make a copy of a document with the comments and suggestions carrying over.

Eric Curts over at Control Alt Achieve, posted a means to modify the ‘Force a Copy’ trick in conjunction with the copying of comments. I’m not going to go into too much detail (mainly because Eric does a fine job explaining the process w/ screenshots) the main gist is…

  • Change the Doc w/ prepopulated comments to ‘Anyone with the link can comment’
  • Go to the shareable link, NOT the URL of the Doc, and copy it.
  • Change the /edit?usp=sharing to /copy?copyComments=true
  • Give this new link to anyone you want to ‘force a copy’ of a document

I created an example activity (linked below) which showcases how this could be utilized in the classroom. The document has the Gettysburg Address with questions posted as comments. Students could then reply to the comments with their answers. The idea would be to manage this through Google Classroom where I create an assignment with nothing attached. The ‘force a copy’ link will be included in the directions of the assignment. When completed the student would attach their copy of the Doc to the assignment, then turn in.

I also feature another one of my favorite tools within this activity, an extension called Talk & Comment. This tool allows a user to embed voice recordings within the comments of the Doc. Plus, a bonus, notice some of the comments have bold text? I learned about that trick from Kim Pollishuke over at Inquire & Inspire. In her May 2015 post, she highlights some text tricks to create bold, italics, strikethrough, or all three.

  • *text*   → text
  • -text-   → text
  • _text_   → text
  • _-*text*-_   → text

Google Doc with Comments, click the image to ‘force a copy w/ comments’

How could you use this technique with your students? I would love to read about your ideas in the comments below.

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