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Document Activities

TL;DR; A document activity attaches a file (.md, .pdf, or .txt) to a section of a course and renders it inline for the learner. Use it for reference material that needs to live as a file — handbooks, policies, playbooks, supplementary guides.

Document activities are how you give learners a file to read or reference inside a course, without sending them somewhere external. Lupo renders the file inline so learners never leave the course page.

Supported file types

Document activities currently render three file types:

  • Markdown (.md) — rendered as formatted HTML with headings, lists, links, and code blocks. Best for content you control and want learners to read inline.
  • PDF (.pdf) — rendered in an embedded viewer. Best for pre-existing documents (policies, compliance docs, handbooks) you don't want to rewrite.
  • Plain text (.txt) — rendered as unformatted text. Use sparingly; Markdown is almost always a better choice if you can control the source.

Other file types (Word docs, Excel files, etc.) aren't supported as document activities today. Convert them to PDF before uploading.

When to use a document activity

Use document activities for:

  • Long-form reference content. A 10-page handbook, a compliance policy, a full playbook.
  • Externally authored documents. Content your legal, HR, or compliance team wrote in Word and published as PDF. You don't want to rewrite it into a reading activity — you want to use the original.
  • Content that lives outside the course. Files that are canonical elsewhere (in a SharePoint drive, a corporate docs site, whatever) and you want to mirror inside the course for convenience.
  • Reference material learners will come back to. Things learners want to find later, after they've finished the course.

For short inline text the learner reads once, use a reading activity instead.

Creating a document activity

Add Document Activity form

From inside a section, click Add Activity → Document. You'll get a form with:

  • Title — what the learner sees in the activity list.
  • Description — optional blurb above the rendered file.
  • File upload — drag or select the .md, .pdf, or .txt file.
  • Order — where the activity sits in the section.

Add Document Activity form showing the file upload area

Once uploaded, the file is stored in Lupo and rendered in place whenever a learner opens the activity.

How documents render

Each file type has its own rendering path:

  • Markdown files are parsed and converted to HTML. Headings become proper headings, lists become lists, code blocks get syntax highlighting. The learner sees a clean, styled page — no raw Markdown.
  • PDF files render in an embedded viewer. Learners can scroll, zoom, and (usually) search the text. They can also download the PDF if the course allows it.
  • Text files render as preformatted monospace text. Good for logs, raw data, or content where formatting doesn't matter.

PDF rendered inside a document activity

Replacing a document

If you need to update a document — a new version of a policy, for example — edit the activity and upload the new file. Lupo keeps the activity's ID stable, so any progress records learners have for that activity remain intact. The new file simply replaces the old one.

A caveat: if the content changes materially (new sections, different order, different meaning), some learners may have been "complete" on the old version and should probably re-read the new one. In that case, consider creating a new activity instead so the record clearly distinguishes "read version A" from "read version B."

Document activities and the Knowledge Base

Document activities and the Knowledge Base (Libraries) overlap in what they hold, but they serve different purposes:

  • Document activity — a file attached to a specific section in a specific course, with completion tracking. Its purpose is course-specific.
  • Library content item — a file in a department's reference library, browsable outside of any course. Its purpose is organization-wide reference.

The same PDF can live in both places. Put it in the library for general reference, and attach it as a document activity inside the specific course where it's required reading.

See Knowledge Base Overview for the library side.

Where to go next