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Turnitin submission errors

Find out about Turnitin submission errors and what they mean

Christine Nicholls avatar
Written by Christine Nicholls
Updated over 2 months ago

Note: This article is for our Network partners, if you're unsure if this is you please get in touch with our support team.

If you have submitted a task response (text or a file) for similarity checking and the submission can't be processed you'll receive an email telling you why.

Common reasons why

From file types to text requirements, there are a range or reasons why a submission may not process successfully.

Reason 1: This file type is not supported

Turnitin only supports the following file formats:

  • .doc

  • .docx

  • .wpd

  • .odt

  • .ps

  • .html

  • .hwp

  • .rtf

  • .txt

  • Adobe pdf

  • .pptx

  • .ppt

  • .ppsx

  • .pps

  • .xls

  • .xlsx

Reason 2: The file did not contain any text

The file was blank or contained content that cannot be checked (i.e. images, graphs etc)

Reason 3: The file did not contain enough text

The minimum file submission is 20 words so this submission couldn't be checked.

Reason 4: The file was too large

The maximum file size that can be checked is 2MB.

Reason 5: The file had too many pages

Each submission is limited to a maximum of 800 pages.

Reason 6: The file is password locked

Remove the password protection and resubmit.

Reason 7: The file appears to be corrupt

Please resave the file and try again.

Reason 8: An unexpected error occurred

Please try again.

Find out more about Turnitin troubleshooting on their website.

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