New RCE - add link to new uploaded document to selected text

[tobe_baeyens]

Hi,

I can't add add a link to a newly uploaded document to selected text in the new RCE. In the old RCE you can select some text and add a link to a newly added document without changing the text.

In the new RCE when you select text, and add a link to a new document that you upload from your computer, the text you've selected will be replaced with the filename of the new document.

Adding internal links to pages was one of the killer features in the old RCE. It was very easy to connect course content without leaving the editor area.

I suggest that this mistake should be rectified.

Kindly regards,
Tobe Baeyens

🔎 This idea has been archived. While this idea isn't open for comments, it is an important part of Instructure’s idea conversations and development process. Contributions like this are valuable as Instructure prioritizes work on new or existing features.

[awilliams]

Hi  @tobe_baeyens . It is true that when you upload a new document it will insert the file name as the hyperlink text even if you have selected existing normal text before going through the upload process. However, it is still possible to replace that hyperlink text with anything you would like using the hyperlink options menu (image included below). So, while the workflow is slightly different, I think the killer features of adding links to pages and other course content without leaving the editor is still possible and I will mark this idea for archival.

[tobe_baeyens]

Hi Adam,

It's true that you can always change the text of a hyperlink in the new RCE.

In the old RCE you could also select some text and turn that into a hyperlink without losing the selected text.

In new RCE this is sometimes the case:

• Select text and insert link to course document: selected text turns into hyperlink
• Select text and insert link to user document: selected text turns into hyperlink
• Select text and insert course link: selected text turns into hyperlink
• Select text and insert hyperlink: selected text turns into hyperlink
• Select text and insert link to document that has to be uploaded: selected text will be replaced by filename and the filename will turn into hyperlink. The selected text is lost.

This is behaviour that is unexpected, and information that has been added will disappear. Adding a hyperlink should always work in the same way. If not, people will lose their confident in what they are doing.

I suggest that this mistake should be rectified.

Kindly regards,
Tobe Baeyens

[awilliams]

Hi  @tobe_baeyens . Change is necessary and part of progress. New behavior that differs from prior behavior may lead to unexpected results until one has time to adjust to the new behavior. It is not possible for all things to always work the way they did in the past if progress is to be pursued. The functionality is working as designed so it is not a mistake. Suspected mistakes should be brought up with Support who can confirm if something is not working as intended. When something is working as intended but you would like it to work another way, feature ideas are the way to work towards that.

Since you are familiar with the intended way this works now, but you would like it to work a different way, I can open this idea up for voting in the aims of allowing selected text to be set as the hyperlink text.

[kmeeusen]

Adam:

Change is not necessary; but rather, inevitable.  Change in no way implies "improvement". This does not exclude the fact that some changes include unexpected, and perhaps even unwelcome, outcomes. Some of the behaviors of the new RCE are, at least for me, unwelcome. Some are outright bugs.

I would strongly suggest both support tickets, and feature ideas to raise Product's awareness of unwelcomed behaviors.

Kelley

[tobe_baeyens]

Thanks for opening up this idea for voting. It's not a problem for me that the new behaviour is different from the behaviour in the old RCE. What I do think is a problem, is that

1. Text gets lost when adding links to a new file. This is not an improvement.

2. The behaviour in the new RCE is inconsistent, as I described in my previous comment.

[japhill]

Well said Kelley! Thanks!

[mliao]

Hello Canvas team,

A chat support sent me here. Today many teachers at our school noticed that when we are editing our class pages, we cannot insert assignment links from the right side drop-down menu anymore. We learned that we can still insert links by clicking the link icon, choose “course links”, choose “assignment”, and then choose from a long list of all the assignments, then click that one particular assignment to our course page. However, it used to be just chosen from the “assignment” bar on the right, then scroll down to click the task to insert.

Even though this is a small change, but it shifts us from 2 clicks to insert an assignment link, to 4-5 clicks to insert a link, plus we have to constantly go to the scroll-down list of assignments to choose one item to insert. Depends on each teacher, we may have 4-5 links to add for each day, and that will be 25 links to each week so in total, we need to click 100 times to get all the links inserted (instead of 50). This has increased our prep time a lot, and I wonder if you can consider bring back the right-side link menu. Thank you for considering!

[Brazedowl]

The Old Feature: One of my favorite features on the old editor is that I can copy a link, go to the editor, highlight text, and just hit ctrl-v to paste and it makes that text a link to the URL in my clipboard. No clicking on extra buttons to make a link. Highlight, Paste. That's it. As an instructor I create a page for each week that includes links to the google slides I'm using each day, links to the recordings after I have them ready in studio, links to external virtual lab tools. All kinds of links. It helps the students to have one place as a touchstone to get everything.

The Problem: This feature is lost when I turn on the RCE Enhancements in the settings for my courses. Any way we can grandfather that back in? I know it seems pedantic, but less clicks means more productivity.

Example of my many linked pages:

[Amanda_L_Albrig]

The new RCE doesn't do many of the things that the old one did. This is just one of the issues. I've posted a number as well to the Canvas Community forums but they don't seem to be getting any traction.

https://community.canvaslms.com/t5/Question-Forum/Adding-Page-from-new-RCE/m-p/426590#M148745

[dlyons]

@tobe_baeyens, I tested what you described in your original post and first comment (selecting text then uploading a document for that text to link to) and it appears to be working as you expected when I do it. Perhaps this was a bug that was resolved and this Feature Idea was never updated? Let me know if you're still seeing the issue.  

[tobe_baeyens]

@dlyons Great! Thanks.