Blackboard Announcement Digest

WHAT IT DOES

Blackboard Announcement Digest automatically detects course announcements on Blackboard Learn pages and displays them in a compact, organized overlay. The tool extracts announcement titles, dates, and content previews, grouping them by course for easy browsing. Each announcement can be expanded or collapsed, and clicking on an announcement scrolls to it on the page and marks it as read. The digest keeps you informed of all course updates without having to navigate through multiple pages, making it easy to stay on top of your coursework.

WHERE IT RUNS

This extension works exclusively on Blackboard Learn at *.blackboard.com. It functions on course pages, the announcements page, the course home page, and any page displaying announcement lists. The tool works across all Blackboard instances and adapts to various announcement display formats.

HOW TO USE

Install the extension and navigate to any Blackboard course page with announcements. A compact digest overlay appears in the bottom-right corner showing all recent announcements grouped by course. Click on any announcement title to scroll to it on the page and mark it as read (the badge color changes from yellow to gray). Use the overlay panel to customize the experience: toggle the digest overlay on or off, toggle content previews on or off, choose whether announcements are expanded or collapsed by default, enable or disable marking as read on view, and toggle grouping by course on or off. Click "Refresh Digest" to manually update the announcement list. The status area shows how many announcements are currently detected.

TECHNICAL SECTION — ANNOUNCEMENT DETECTION AND DIGEST ENGINE

The extension uses a multi-strategy detection engine to find announcements on Blackboard pages. It queries common announcement selectors including .announcement, .announcement-item, and pattern-matching class names. For each detected announcement, the tool extracts the title, date, content, and course information. A read status tracking system uses GM_setValue to store which announcements have been viewed, with each announcement identified by a unique ID. The digest overlay is created using DOM manipulation with inline CSS, grouping announcements by course and providing expand/collapse functionality. Clicking an announcement scrolls to its position on the page and marks it as read, with a visual highlight effect. The overlay updates automatically when the page changes.

THE PANEL — DRAG / PER-SITE POSITION / SNAP / COLLAPSE / RESIZE / ESCAPE

The overlay panel is fully interactive and designed for seamless multitasking. Drag it anywhere on the screen using the handle at the top of the panel; the position is saved per site so it stays where you left it across sessions. The panel includes a snap-to-edge feature that gently anchors the overlay to the nearest screen edge when released. Click the collapse button to minimize the panel to a compact pill showing the current announcement count; expand it again with a single click. Resize the panel vertically by dragging the bottom-right corner to view more announcements. Press the Escape key at any time to instantly close the overlay; it reappears on the next page navigation or refresh.

PLEASE NOTE

This extension requires the free BotGentz companion extension to function, as it provides the underlying content script injection and cross-origin communication framework. No personal data, browsing history, or announcement content is stored, transmitted, or shared. Read status is stored locally in your browser using GM_setValue and is never sent to any external server. Settings are stored locally in your browser using GM_setValue and are never sent to any external server. The extension does not access or store login credentials, financial data, or personally identifiable information. The tool reads announcement information visible on the page and does not access Blackboard's API or any private data. Blackboard may update its page structure; the extension includes multiple detection strategies to maintain compatibility, but major redesigns may temporarily affect announcement detection. Read status is per browser and does not sync across devices.