It is always quite a daunting process setting up a whole new system. Luckily, our Help Center is full of guides to run you through each step. To make this even simpler for Admins to follow, here is a step-by-step checklist to make sure your Institution is up and running in no time!
1. Purchase your license
Speak to our Sales Team using the contact form here if you haven't already. They will guide you through pricing and help you make a purchase.
2. Get Activated and set up your Owner Account
Most of the time, your License will already be activated during the purchase process, as our Sales Team will add your Institution's domain address to the server, allowing the owner to log in.
Our Sales Team will then send you an activation link to log in to the Goodnotes Admin Console which will include a Referral Code.
You can then follow these steps:
- Head to the Goodnotes Admin Console.
- Sign in with your chosen method to create a Goodnotes Account that will be the owner of the Organization.
- Input the Referral Code that would have been sent to you by your sales rep.
By logging in with your domain, you will have created a Goodnotes Account under that account which will be set up as the Owner of your Organization.
To learn more about activating and setting up your Goodnotes Account, please see: Activate your License and Add Admins
My school uses the same domain as other schools in the area!
If your school uses the same domain as other schools in your district or region, you and your Teachers can still sign up with your SSO login, you will simply be asked to also input an org join code.
This code will be given to your school by the sales rep who helped you get onboarded. If this code is not working, please contact Support and let us know, we may need to unblock your school as another school in your district may have signed up first so we simply need to manually clear things up on our end!
3. Set up the Goodnotes Admin Console
The Goodnotes Admin Console is your main tool for managing your Institution. Here you can assign IDP and User Roles as well as alter settings and check connectivity.
If not done already, you will be able to:
- Set your Organization name and language in the Settings Tab
- Set your Verified Domain Ownership to your Institution's unique domain. This will be the domain used by all your students and teachers when signing in to any system with SSO
Once all this is set up, move on to getting the Classroom app deployed to your Teachers.
Please see Using the Goodnotes Admin Console for more information.
4. Download the apps (if you haven't already!)
Please note that the Goodnotes Classroom app is designed exclusively for Teachers. Teachers will create and share lessons through Goodnotes Classroom, which will then be accessed by students using Goodnotes 6. To ensure proper functionality, it is essential to implement Goodnotes Classroom for Teachers and Goodnotes 6 for Students.
You can either push out Goodnotes Classroom and Goodnotes 6 via MDM or ask your users to download them from the App Store depending on how your network is configured.
5. Verify your Domain
To have your school domain or any other domain become the defacto Identity Provisioning method for your organization, you first need to verify it using the Goodnotes Admin Console. This step may already have been done for you by our sales team but if not:
- Go to Identity Provisioning > Domain Management
- If you haven't already, add the domain using the button on the right-hand side.
- Next to your school domain, click the three dots and select “View Verification Code”.
- Follow the instructions to verify the domain. (Copy your verification code provided, paste it as a new TXT record in your provider's DNS settings, and then click “Verify domain)
6. Get your Teachers on Classroom
Access Code
You can invite Teachers via an Access Code or Invitation Link. To do this:
- Head to the User Management Tab
- Click Invite Users
- Copy a Teacher Access Code or Invitation Link to join your org
- Send this to your Teacher who will then be able to use it when logging into the app with the verified domain email address.
- They will then be prompted to enter the six-digit teacher access code (starting with T-).
- If the code is correct and the domain matches, they will be added to your School's Classroom and can start creating Class Folders and Lessons!
Please note: Teachers will need to sign up with a Goodnotes Account that uses the verified email domain.
Without an Access Code
- After logging in, they will be told that they do not have access to Classroom.
- Head to the Goodnotes Admin Console and go to the User Management Tab
- Find the new user and convert their account role to Teacher
7. Help your Students get Classroom features in Goodnotes 6
If you don't already, please deploy the Goodnotes 6 app to your Student's iPads. If Students are already using Goodnotes 6 on their devices and are logged into their personal accounts as their Goodnotes Account, they will need to log out before completing the following steps:
- Choose the correct login method. If your School uses Google Accounts, choose Sign in with Google.
- Enter a school email address and password
- Agree to the Terms and Conditions
- They should now be logged into Goodnotes 6! If they have done everything correctly, they should see your School or Institution name in the Sidebar along with any Class Folders they have been added to.
You can send your Students the Easy to follow setup guide for Students if they are having issues.