Documents and printing: from resource to handout
The four export formats, the handout reading tools, annotations that stay put, and printing that always comes out light.
- Best for
- Classroom teachers
- Typical use
- 10 minutes
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Document Builder can package supported lesson resources as a finished copy to read, a blank copy to write on, a web handout with reading tools, or slides. Not every interactive tool becomes a meaningful static document, so preview the chosen resources and use the tool's own export when one is required.
For building the resources themselves, see Prepare a lesson.
The four primary Document Builder modes
| Format | What it is | Reach for it when |
|---|---|---|
| Print / Save as PDF | A finished copy to read. Opens your print window; print it or save as PDF there. | Reference copies, family communication, reading material. |
| Worksheet | A blank copy to write on: answer boxes become ruled lines, multiple choice becomes fill-in bubbles, and a Name / Date / Score header appears. | Paper practice and anything handed in physically. |
| HTML handout | A downloadable file with its own reading toolbar. The default export is designed for offline use; optional web fonts, external links, media, or connected features can still create network dependencies. | Sending work home, devices without AlloFlow, screen-reader use after testing. |
| Slides | A presentation export. | Whole-class instruction. |
The export screen explains each format under its selector, so you do not need to memorize this table.
The worksheet has one more trick: if your lesson has both an adapted text and a glossary, you can turn the passage into a fill-in-the-blank worksheet. Glossary terms become numbered blanks, a word bank appears below, and the teacher copy carries the answer key. It works in any lesson language.
The HTML handout's reading tools
The exported page carries its own accessibility toolbar, independent of AlloFlow:
- Text size offers a range with a live percentage readout. The handout is designed to reflow, but test the actual file at the largest offered size and the narrowest student viewport.
- Fonts: offline choices travel with or fall back inside the handout, while optional web fonts can require internet. The exact list can change; use the export screen's needs internet label and test multilingual coverage before choosing a font.
- Reading themes, sentence read-along where the lesson includes audio, and the annotation tools below.
Annotations that stay put
Supported handouts can provide highlights, notes, stickers, voice notes, and drawing. Annotation persistence depends on the exported format, browser storage, permissions, and the way the file is reopened. Test a sample mark, reload the actual handout, and confirm that it remains anchored before promising persistence to students.
Teacher annotations made in the app travel into the export, including drawings.
Printing
- Screen-only controls never print; what comes out is the worksheet, not the interface.
- Printing from dark mode produces a normal light page. Dark themes are for screens; paper always comes out black on white, so no one empties a toner cartridge by accident.
- The crossword and other glossary printables include a separate answer-key page after a page break, so you can keep the key and hand out the rest.
The Expert Workbench
The Document Builder's ribbon has an Expert Workbench tab: type a plain-language instruction ("make every heading a proper H2", "add alt text to the images") and it applies structural edits across the document. It is the same engine the PDF remediation pathway uses. The panel shows example instructions, so an empty text box never greets you.
Practical guidance
- Preview in the real format. A resource that looks right in the app can break at 175% text on a phone; the reflow work makes this rare, but the habit is free.
- For families without reliable internet, test the downloaded HTML handout with default fonts while the device is offline. Remove or replace any optional font, link, media item, or feature that still needs a network.
- Keep the answer-key page before handing a stack to students; it prints last on purpose.