Cannot upload PDFs, or an upload failed?
The upload location matters. Photo and Masterpiece pickers accept images, but HomeTrail Plus supports PDF attachments on the website: open a dated activity, go to its materials, and choose Attach PDF for a PDF up to 50 MB. A PDF rejected by a photo picker does not mean HomeTrail cannot store PDFs.
For a failed upload, identify the screen, file type, size, and exact error first. Do not upload private documents to a support message merely to describe the problem. Check these separate workflows:
- Photo or Masterpiece: images up to 10 MB. A PDF is not an image.
- Website activity materials → Attach PDF: a PDF up to 50 MB attached to a dated activity. It does not import lessons or report data.
- Website Plus Hub → Compass, curriculum planner import: readable-text PDFs up to 250 MB and 600 pages. A page-limit error needs a shorter document, not just file compression.
- Website Plus Hub → Compass, learning report import: completed-learning report PDFs up to 20 MB.
For an app photo picker, use an image. If you need a PDF attachment and cannot find a PDF control in your app, use the website's Attach PDF steps. Keep the app open with a stable connection while an upload finishes. If it still fails, contact support with the upload location and error text.
Use photo uploads for student work, art, worksheets, projects, or book covers.
Add a photo on the website
- Open Planner and select the date.
- Open an existing session, or select Add Masterpiece on the Day page.
- Choose an image from your device.
- Add a description when it will make the record easier to understand later.
- Save the session or Masterpiece.
Images may be up to 10 MB. Add only files that belong to your family and that you are comfortable storing with the student's private learning record.
Text a photo to TrailGuide
With HomeTrail Plus, attach a photo with a description such as “Emma did 30 minutes of painting today.” TrailGuide can log the learning and save the photo with it.
If you send a photo by itself within 10 minutes of a text linked to an activity, it attaches to that recent activity. Otherwise, TrailGuide holds the photo and asks whether it belongs to an existing activity or something new. Reply with the child, activity, and date; if several activities match, TrailGuide asks which one. It does not create a generic photo activity while waiting.
Pending photos stay available for up to two hours while you answer, so you do not need to resend them during that conversation. Attaching a photo to an existing activity does not mark it complete.
Add a photo from an iPhone or iPad
The mobile app can choose images available to the Photos picker. If student work is saved as a PDF in Files, save an appropriate page as an image or take a screenshot, then upload that image.
Before taking a screenshot, crop out unrelated notifications, account information, or other private content.
When you have a PDF
On the website with HomeTrail Plus, you can attach a PDF you already have (a worksheet, a reading, a printable) to a day's activity: open the activity, go to its materials, and choose Attach PDF. PDFs up to 50 MB stay with that day beside anything HomeTrail made, and you can open or remove them there. Photo and Masterpiece uploads still take images only.
HomeTrail Plus also has two specific PDF workflows in Plus Hub > Compass:
- Create planner entries from an authorized curriculum PDF turns a readable curriculum into a reviewable plan.
- Import a learning report PDF creates a reviewable draft of completed sessions, grades, and attendance.
Curriculum PDF uploads may be up to 250 MB; learning report PDF uploads may be up to 20 MB. Nothing is added to the planner or student record until you review and confirm the draft.
For any other PDF, attach it to the day's activity with Attach PDF, or keep the original in your own file storage and attach representative pages as images when useful.
