FLO Student Support
Troubleshooting the text-matching software (Turnitin)
Please see the below for a list of useful Turnitin FAQs, and commonly encountered messages.Full information and step by step instructions on the use of Text-Matching software can be found at the following link.
What do I do if my Turnitin report has shown as 'pending' for more than 24 hours?
Sometimes your Turnitin report has been returned, even though the status still shows 'pending'.
First, please try clicking on the title of your uploaded document, as this will often open your Turnitin Report.
If this doesn't resolve your issue, please contact the FLO Student Helpdesk for assistance. Please remember that it may take up to 24 hours for a report to be returned.
How do I upload a second or subsequent document to the draft box in my topic?
Please use the same 'submit paper' button you used for your initial submission. 
Your new upload will replace your previous upload, so please save a copy of the previous report if you wish to refer to it later.
Do not be concerned if you read a blue message reading 'you have already submitted a paper to this assignment ....'. Read more about this message in the next tab.
I am submitting my RHD thesis through Turnitin, and am having trouble downloading my report.
Your RHD thesis may be a very large document, which can cause difficulty when it comes to downloading your report.
Please make sure you have read the instructions included with the 'Turnitin - check your drafts' dropbox in the REST topic. There are several tips there for managing large files. For further help, contact the RHD email provided within the draft submission box in the same topic.
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You must upload a supported file type for this assignment. Accepted file types are; .doc, .docx, .ppt, .pptx, .pps, .ppsx, .pdf, .txt, .htm, .html, .hwp, .odt, .wpd, .ps and .rtf
Why am I seeing this?
Turnitin is text-matching software, and is designed to read text-based documents like Word Documents and PDFs with machine readable text. Other types of documents, like image, video, or audio files, cannot be read by Turnitin, and a text-matching report will not be returned.
Do I need to do anything?
If you have been asked to upload a non-supported file type, like an image file, please don't worry if a report is not returned. Turnitin was not designed for these file types, so you are not expected to receive a text-matching report.
If you are uploading a text based file, please double check the file extension is (1) visible and (2) an accepted file type.
- If the file extension is hidden, please unhide it and resave the file before re-uploading it to FLO.
- If your file was created by a program outside of the MSOffice suite, your file may have saved as an alternate (unsupported) file type. Check the file extension and see if it is possible to save or export the file as a supported file type (like .docx or .PDF). Re-upload your new file to FLO.
Turnitin has returned an error with your submission: Your submission must contain 20 words or more
Why am I seeing this?
You have uploaded the correct file type, but your file does not contain the minimum 20 machine readable words needed to return a Turnitin report.
Do I need to do anything?
- Is your file a scanned copy of a physical document like a paper form?
If you have been asked to upload a scanned copy of a physical document, please don't worry if a report is not returned.
- Is your file a scanned copy of your essay or assignment?
If you scanned a printout of your essay or assignment in order to upload it as a PDF document, Turnitin may not be able to read your file and a report may not be returned. Consider saving your original file as a .PDF instead.
This file has not been submitted to Turnitin. Please consult your tutor for further details.
Why am I seeing this?
This message typically indicates that a technical error or outage prevented your file from being submitted to Turnitin.
Do I need to do anything?
Contact the FLO student Helpdesk, who will investigate the issue. You do not necessarily need to resubmit your file, as it may be possible for technical support staff to re-trigger your report manually.
This file has not been submitted to Turnitin because there is a problem editing the module settings in Turnitin which is preventing submissions, please consult the API logs for more information
Why am I seeing this?
This message typically indicates that a technical error or outage prevented your file from being submitted to Turnitin.
Do I need to do anything?
Contact the FLO student Helpdesk, who will investigate the issue. You do not necessarily need to resubmit your file, as it may be possible for technical support staff to re-trigger your report manually.
You have already submitted a paper to this assignment and Similarity Report was generated for your submission. If you choose to resubmit your paper, your earlier submission will be replaced and a new report will be generated. After 3 submissions, you will need to wait 24 hours after a resubmission to see a new Similarity Report.
Why am I seeing this?
This message will appear whenever you upload a second or subsequent file to your draft drop-box or to an Assignment. This is not an error message, and does not indicate an error or problem with Turnitin or your upload.
Do I need to do anything?
Please go ahead and make your next upload.
Remember that a new upload to a draft dropbox will replace the previous upload, and that your report may take up to 24 hours to be returned.
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