[ARCHIVED] Broken Images After Uploading

[tsmith18]

Some of the images I am uploading show up as broken and do not display. I have tried multiple work arounds like trying to use screen shots, moving my images from the flashdrive to the hard drive, saving as different files like png.  I haven't had any issues in the past.  Any suggestions?  Thank you.

[kblack]

Hi tsmith1 Welcome to the worldwide Canvas Community, where Canvas uses can exchange ideas and ask questions.  And it is thanks to this Community, in fact, that your question rang a bell, because I remembered reading something extremely similar to what is happening to you just within the past week.  Take a look here:  Images sometimes appearing as broken, sometimes not  and see if any of the symptoms sound similar and also check to see if some of the suggestions may help you, especially the one from  @stuart_ryan  .  If they do not, then it may be time to file a case with the Canvas engineers.  (To do that, you want to HELP on the left-side menu, and then REPORT A PROBLEM.)  

Be sure to report back to the Community here what you find out, because I'm sure others can benefit from hearing about it!

[andrea_potter]

I have had heaps of problems with image links being broken when I use Safari. I have asked Canvas Chat quite a few times but their suggestions haven't helped. Images keep disappearing - they come back - and then the disappear again. My Safari updates are up to date, I have 'allowed cookies' and I have deleted all my history to see if that makes a difference - it doesn't fix the problem. Updating Safari at my end is all fine, but the real issue is what are the students seeing at their end if they use Safari?

[kblack · Accepted solution]

You definitely should report that to Canvas,  @andrea_potter ‌.  And you raise an excellent point about your students.  While you could try "Student View," that would not take out of the equation the fact that it may be something uniquely odd with your own Safari installation. You may want to ask a few of your students to check.

[mwelker]

Just had a faculty member on Chrome (Win) call from home and say that as of this weekend he is only getting image file names inserting when he goes to images upload from the content selector. Using Firefox (win 10), I am able to reproduce this in his course and other courses. So I am thinking this may be a potential update related global glitch Todd Smith ??

Work-around I gave the faculty member is that after you go to IMAGES>UPLOAD NEW IMAGE and it just inserts the test or broken image icon, SAVE. Then EDIT and go to IMAGES tab in content selector and click the image in the library under the "UPLOAD NEW IMAGE" link and it appears to work aok. Then save and you are all set... albeit with an extra step :z

Filing a ticket to make Engineers aware and or get definitive feedback on this is just a quirk of our (and your?) configuration now...?

Cheers,

Mike

[snugent]

I am seeing the same issue. I have found that if I save the page and then click edit I can select the text where the image should be and then select the image in the right side content browser. It will then load properly and I can save the page with the image embedded. I reported this issue. 

Edit: I also tested with adding an image that was previously uploaded and didn't have this problem so this appears to only occur when you upload a new image. Another workaround is to upload all the images to Files area of the course first and then when you edit pages the  images will display in the content browser when editing the page. 

[mwelker]

UPDATE:

Canvas Support confirmed on our ticket this is a known thing:

" We are aware of this problem and our next level of support are working very swiftly on getting this fixed."

So not just us

-Mike

[mwelker]

Folks,

In case you missed it, Canvas deployed a hotfix Friday that should have fixed this. IN limited testing I have been able to do today all is good.

Thanks to all for input and contributions to get folks aware!

Go Canvas!

-Mike

[jdick1]

FYI, for the record in case anyone else encounters this issue, Canvas Support recommended I clear my cache. That fixed it!

[kimberly_smith1]

I tried clearing my cache (per support ticket response), but it only worked for about 10 minutes - then images disappeared again.. Susan Nugent mentions this problem as only affecting newly uploaded images. However, that is not the case for me (both old and newly uploaded images are affected). I submitted a support ticket. Unfortunately, the response I recieved was essentially that the problem must be on my end (e.g. "I have looked into this issue and I am not experiencing the same behavior. I would suggest these trouble shooting methods...) - followed by 'clear cache, check internet connect, etc.

Do we know if someone is actually working on this issue? The post Michael Welker provided above (11/06/2017) seems to indicate that Canvas may now consider it fixed. If the problem isn't fixed soon, it seems I will have to start undoing a lot of recent work in my course . Of course, I know what the 'image.png' names mean - so I can still sort of navigate my course. However, my students will not have the same option. Is there an alternative to submitting a support ticket - some method that might draw more immediate attention to resolving this issue? In case it might help, I will also post to other places that this conversation is taking place. Thank you!

[snugent]

I haven't seen this issue lately. I just did a test and uploaded images load fine for me now. Just curious. Have you tried a different browser? 

[kimberly_smith1]

Sadly yes, I have tried a lot of different things. I even tried a couple of the workarounds offered in other conversations.

Below is a copy of the response I received from my support ticket. I tried most all of these suggestions.  

Thank you for contacting Canvas Support. Sorry you are having problems with your embedded images in your course. I am happy to help you with this, I have looked into this issue and I am not experiencing the same behavior. 
I would suggest these trouble shooting methods:

Update your browser - updating your browser may fix any problems you have with Canvas, please see this guide on which browsers are supported by Canvas

Clear your browser history - Clearing your browser history, cookies and cache helps with accessing web pages which are causing you problems. Please refer to these guides, How to clear cache on PC or How to clear cache on MAC

Open Chrome in Incognito Window - Opening Chrome in Incognito Window will disable any Chrome Extensions/Plugins. This will help us identify if it is a browser related issue. 

Here is how to access an "Incognito Window":

https://screencast.com/t/TXHEVexXPHb

Try using a different PC - If you have access to a another PC or Mac, try viewing the Canvas page there and see if you get similar issues, if you do not get any issues, we can assume it may be an issue with your computer settings.

Check your Internet Connection -  If you are using wireless, try connecting to cable if you can.

I hope this resolves the issue for you. Let me know if you have any questions!

Have a great day!

Kind regards,
(name redacted)
L1 Support
support@instructure.com

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Since this appears to be an ongoing issue (I guess since Ocober 2017 - and resurfacing now), I feel that even if some one of these suggestions had worked, I can't really expect my freshman (and usually new to Canvas) students to to be running through these options when trying to do work in my course .  

[snugent]

You might try talking to your local support and see if they can arrange a meeting/email with your school's customer success manager. Whenever I have issues I can't solve I get our CSM involved. They can work with Canvas support to get to the bottom of the issue. 

[kimberly_smith1]

Hi Susan,

I appreciate all your feedback. I will check with my tech people, Sadly, the last time asked about contacting our CSM (a couple of weeks ago) I was told that we don't currently have one ("is in transition"). But perhaps that has changed now.

Thank you.

[andrea_potter]

I have found the same problem as you Kimberly. Clearing my cache only works for a short time - I don't think 5 to 12 year olds (who I teach) would be able to do this at their end. Clicking refresh about 4 or 5 times usually works but is that a good standard for a LMS? 

[kimberly_smith1]

Good news! After further correspondence with L1 Operations Canvas Support, I just received the following email: 

"Thank you for clarifying that you've attempted the browser steps. After further investigating, I was able to recreate the same behavior. Unfortunately I haven't found a root cause yet, so I've notified our engineers of this situation and they've created a work ticket to narrow down this issue. I've attached this message to the engineers work ticket. That way, once there's a resolution, you'll be notified through email." So perhaps this will be resolved soon. Yay! I will post an update when I hear back from Engineering.

[andrea_potter]

Thank you 🙂 It would be great to have this fixed!!! I had to keep clicking refresh 3 or 4 times almost every time I clicked on a new page today. The images would be there then they would disappear again.

[arnold_cassie]

We've noticed this with some of our teachers too. It will be good to know what they say!

[robert_byng]

Hope this gets fixed soon. I am administering quizzes and tests for math whose graphs and diagrams are not visible to the students.

[labrewster]

This is actually not fixed....just had this happen to my Alg 2 Honors teacher during EXAM week.  Here's the response I got from canvassupport‌

Quoted from a Canvas L1 Support Agent: "This is a follow-up to our call earlier. You had students in a quiz that weren't seeing the images but the instructor could or vise versa. All the images were there and working when the instructor added them to the quiz and they are still in the course without having had anything change with them. I'd actually been talking to one of my next level agents about this very behavior and how he was working with others about looking into this prior to our call. During our call I talked to him again and he was able to help me find the tracker that was created about this behavior that we can add you to as we investigate.

We've seen people link the images again and it shows fine but when accessing where the file is linked it will again shows the image name or a broken image. We've seen some users that log out and back in then the image shows for a short time but others that it doesn't start showing like it should. We have seen some people that while accessing different pages in the course it shows again then doesn't again. It's not happening with just quizzes either, it could happen anywhere there is an image linked. At this point in the investigation we haven't found a work around the make it so the images will stay showing as they should be. Not having a work around does mean that we don't currently have a way to make it so the students would be able to see all the images while taking the quiz.

 I'm still sending it to the next level like we talked about so they can check on it some more."

----

How many others are seeing this issue?  I didn't hear that they attached my ticket to open cases or that there are multiple instances of this error.

[kimberly_smith1]

Hi Leigh Anne,

Thank you for posting this. I hope others will join us in submitting a support request on this; I think this might help convey the sense urgency (which I am certainly feeling as I see images appearing/disappearong while working on my course for next semester). Perhaps it would be helpful if we all listed our support ticket case numbers here. Then, if others who submit subsequent support requests included these case numbers in their support request, it might make it easier for Engineers to track this problem down (not reinventing the wheel each time a request is submitted)?

Here is my support ticket information: Canvas Support: Embedded Images - Case #02672254 [] [ ref:_00DA0Ibsk._500A0ZCw5V:ref ]

[kimberly_smith1]

Just a quick update...

I emailed Canvas to check on the status of my ticket about this issue. Here is the 12/17/17 response:

Thank you for checking in. Our engineers are still working on this case. We do not have additional updates at this time. This ticket is still on our radar. You will be notified once we have more information.

I apologize for the inconvenience and appreciate your patience.

Thank you,
Canvas Support
support@instructure.com

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I would ask that anyone who is also experiencing this problem to PLEASE submit an official Support Request to Canvas (and maybe also reference the number above?). With so many instructors likely 'on break' right now, I worry that some may not discover the problem until much closer to semester start time (so are not reporting it). My hope is that more official requests now may = more techs working on it, and may head off potential panic later. If this remains unresolved at the start of the new semester, it will be a real problem for anyone who (like me) uses embedded images with hyperlinks for course navigation and/or embeds images in quizzes. 

[labrewster]

Here's ya go!  Case #02675969...

It's still an issue...

Here's the most recent response, which now it appears as if they're sending a "resolved" ticket notice (even though it definitely isn't resolved).

The've elevated it to an L2 - Support

"I understand that some users experienced trouble while displaying images during a quiz. We do have a current reported behavior that we are investigating, as _________ mentioned, where we are seeing some images appear as their alt text or broken image boxes. Talking with ____________ she relayed what you were describing as a .png appearing but no image. This behavior does appear to be similar to what we are investigating. Were you able to take any screen captures of those instances that we can look at? 

I have been looking at the quiz itself today and it appears that the version of the quiz has been modified and I am seeing student submissions of varying versions for the quiz. When a student starts a quiz their attempt is the current version of the quiz at the time. If the quiz is modified after they have started, they remain on that original version until they submit their current attempt and start another. Unfortunately, this makes the troubleshooting of what is happening nearly impossible as the changes in data means that a user might not experience the behavior that was originally occurring.

Looking at this submission of the quiz, from Version 30, that was submitted from "x student" I can see on Question 4 there are no graphs in the submission. I inspected, within the browser elements, that submission within SpeedGrader to view the HTML of the answers, and in doing so found that there was no HTML present at that time.

However, another student submission, from Version 10,  does display the images and inspecting the questions I found HTML present for the images. So version 10 did have images but version 30 did not, the current version of the quiz is 45.

In conclusion, it looks like we are running into a couple different issues. First, the behavior with missing images and text like ".png" appearing that we are currently tracking and investigating. And second, some of the quiz versions did not include the images at all so some students were not seeing it for that reason. I am happy to take a further look into the .png image missing issue but will need additional information. First, which students were seeing this particular issue? When specifically did they experience this? If their attempt is still active, are they still seeing it? Finally, as mentioned above, do you have any screenshots of the behavior that you can share with us?

Looking forward to any additional information that you can provide. If you have any additional questions please let me know."

----

Any updates from anyone else?

#canvassupport‌

[kimberly_smith1]

Thank you for including your case #02675969 Leigh Anne!  I will link this to other places as well - for example, "Images not Posting on Canvas Quizzes" (submitted by Jayson Rigsby on 12/16/17)

  https://community.canvaslms.com/message/91081-re-images-not-posting-on-canvas-quizzes?commentID=9108... 

[robert_byng]

This has been a problem since the original post, Oct 2017. 

I am still experiencing images not displaying properly. They import fine and survive the editing process, but the images turn in to some cryptic icon with .jpg or .png as a label. Specifically I have a Canvas quiz named, "Math 3 Cume Review A." 

It should contain the following information:

I export it using Exam View's Blackboard 7.1-9.0 feature. Then import it into Canvas using the "Blackboard 6/7/8/9 export .zip file" feature. It comes across fine, survives my editing, previews fine and then tests fine in Student View also.

The next day, the images were lost as per the preceding example for both myself and my students. Therefore the assignment is a bust. (FYI... transferring and editing and debugging for errors can take one to two hours for a single 25 question Canvas quiz. If this doesn't get fixed, then I won't be able to use it in my classroom.)

Something I noticed...

1. I can 'find' the Canvas Quiz in my Assignments, Quizzes, Calendar and Modules without any problem.
2. But, I cannot find any evidence of the Canvas Quiz in my Files.
3. The associated Question Bank created during the import process exists in one class with all the required images. The same question bank does not get copied over to the other class (I teach two classes with the same high school prep) when the Canvas Module gets imported from the first Canvas Course to the second one after all the debugging is finished.

I am guessing that the images are supposed to be stored in my course files somewhere, but got lost. Shouldn't they be in a sub-folder under the quiz itself? I cannot even find a folder associated with this Canvas quiz.

[kimberly_smith1]

Hello Robert,

I think there are two different issues here. I will have to leave the second part of your question to someone more qualified to explain the intricacies of Quiz & Question Bank copying. However, as to the issue of missing images...

Sadly, many of us are experiencing this problem right now   I have been asking that anyone who is also experiencing this problem to PLEASE submit an official Support Request to Canvas, and to include the case numbers that others have posted here in the community in their suppost request (for the engineers working on this to reference). Then, once Canvas replies to your request and you receive a ticket number, it would be great if you could add your number to our list, so that others could include your number. Here are some of the case numbers we have so far: #02672254, #02675969, #02687703. #02667582, #02676804, #02688690, #02690931, #02696853. The idea is that Canvas will then be more aware of both the urgency and scope of this problem. Here are a few links to other recent conversations associated with this issue. These links could also be included in a  support request.

Why are my jpeg images disappearing?!!! 

Images embedded in Pages disappear/reappear at random? 

Images not Posting on Canvas Quizzes 

(very) odd embedded image behavior 

With so many instructors likely 'on break' right now, I worry that some may not discover the problem until much closer to semester start time (so are not reporting it). My hope is that more official requests now may = more techs working on it, and may head off potential panic later. If this remains unresolved at the start of the new semester, it will be a real problem for anyone who (like me) uses embedded images with hyperlinks for course navigation and/or embeds images in quizzes. MANY THANKS to everyone who is providing us with case numbers and/or including this information in their official support requests!

[robert_byng]

Kimberly,

Can you lead me to the right place to create a support ticket. I was unable to find it on my own.

Fyi… I was in the middle of re-typing all my equations and math expressions using the Canvas equation editor and replacing the imported images when the remaining imported images disappeared right before my eyes! It was almost as if they expired or something.

Best regards,

Bob Byng

[kimberly_smith1]

Of course. Once you login to your Canvas LMS, click on "Help?" from the Main Menu on the left. The select "Report a Problem from the 'dropdown box' that opens. You nay want to submit two separate reports: one for the image problem and one for quiz copying issue you mentioned earlier. Good luck! 

[kimberly_smith1]

I just discovered that the course menu navigation tab links I had previously disabled (hidden) have suddenly reappeared. I also noticed that each tab has a line underneath it. This is not true in student view (just instructor view). but it is different than what I am used to seeing. Though I am still missing some embedded images, I am wondering if phenomemon this is a function of Canvas engineers working on our images disappearing issue, or if it something new that I should report. Has this happened to anyone else?

[eduard_romea]

It also happening when you tried to link some file in a question

[scottdennis]

Hi Todd,
Thank you for reporting this issue. I checked with Support this AM and we are aware of this ongoing issue. Our technicians have been able to duplicate and document the cache issue. It has been escalated to the highest level in Support and our engineers are working on solving it now. The best thing you can do is update your tickets with any new information you uncover and if you believe you have a ticket that was marked resolved before we discovered that clearing cache did not permanently fix the issue, please update them to that effect.

Thanks again for your help with getting the word out and for coming back and providing more information.

[kimberly_smith1]

Hello Community...

I received the following update to my case #02672254... "engineers have deployed a temporary fix for this issue, which should allow images to show correctly for you in Canvas until a more permanent fix is in place." This issue did appear to be resolved when viewing my course as an instructor. 

However...

Joel Brown posted the following today at https://community.canvaslms.com/message/91785-re-images-embedded-in-pages-disappearreappear-at-rando... 

"I've had a few conversations with support regarding this issue. My most recent case: 02688342 was a little different to my previous ones. All images displayed correctly for me and when viewing the page as admin and also under 'student view' however when I log in as an enrolled student, the images did not display. I tested this on various computers in the office, chrome, FF, IE, clear cache etc without any resolution. It still only happened when logged in as an enrolled student."

So, I just wanted to pass along the 'heads-up'. Since I do not have 'admin' status (cannot 'masquerade' as a student  - only have the 'student view'), I will be calling my institution's Canvas Help Desk first thing tomorrow when they open - to find out what they see when logged in as an enrolled student in my course. Other 'non-admins' may want to do the same?, and perhaps update their cases with Canvas engineers accordingly?

[kimberly_smith1]

A quick update...

I inquired (via my ticket email) as to the embedded images for 'enrolled student' an received the following response:

Thank you for your reply to Canvas Support. I have checked on our tracker and our team is still working on this behavior and trying to correct it. At this time I don't have an ETA on when this will be resolved, but when our team does resolve this we will update you through your email and this ticket. If you would like us to check through your student's view in Canvas at some of the affected pages, could you share us links to those pages? If you have any further questions for Canvas Support, please let us know. We're happy to help where we can.

L1 Support
support@instructure.com

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So, I guess this issue is not fixed . If anyone has better news, I would really love to hear from you. My students will be getting loaded into my courses in less than two days.

[kimberly_smith1]

A final (?) update..

Students have now been loaded into my courses and, after speaking with the Canvas Help Desk at my local institution, it appears that 'enrolled students' are able to view embedded images. Yay! So, perhaps the disappearing images from 'enrolled student' view (mentioned above) is separate from the one that engineers have been working on. If anything changes (as students begin accessing pages and assignments), I will follow-up. If you are experiencing something different, please keep us posted.

Many thanks to everyone who participated in helping bring the urgent 'diappearing images' problem to the attention of Canvas engineers (submitting problem reports and shaing case numbers with the community)! 

[labrewster]

Here's the latest response from Canvas as of 1/9/18 to my Canvas case 02675969 has been updated with a new message.

"Hello, We've deployed a fix for this issue in our Beta environment. If all goes well, it will make it to the live Production environment on January 27, 2018. This ticket will remain in an "On-Hold" status until then. Admins and instructors: Feel free to try out the fix if you have time. As a reminder, your normal login should get you into Beta if you simply add ".beta" to your institution's Canvas URL (i.e. "canvas.beta.instructure.com"). Keep in mind that the Beta environment has outbound notifications disabled (it's for testing only). Apologies to any students who are receiving this message; testing in Beta is most often disabled for students at various institutions. However, rest assured that we are working to have this issue addressed soon. We will notify you of any changes to the status of this fix. We appreciate your time and attention - if you have any questions about this message or this fix, please feel free to contact Support. Keep Learning! Support Panda Notifier of Things"

Just updating on where we stand at this point in time...#canvassupport‌

[labrewster]

Latest Update from 1/26/18:

"Your Canvas case 02675969 has been updated with a new message.

Hello, We mentioned previously that a fix had been deployed for this issue in our Beta environment. It was scheduled to go to our live Production environment on January 27 with our regularly-scheduled release, but will be delayed at this time. We have rescheduled that release for February 3, as mentioned in our Canvas Release Notes here - https://community.canvaslms.com/docs/DOC-13988-canvas-production-release-notes-2018-01-27. We appreciate your patience as we work to address this issue, and will notify you of any further changes to the status of this fix. If you have any questions about this message or this fix, please feel free to contact Support. Keep Learning! Support Panda Notifier of Things"

[eduard_romea]

We start to use the new assignment/quiz beta environment, and, as far I can see, it will solve lots of problems like this.I don't know why, but we normally have that kind of problems around introducing images in questions or as answers, and now, everything seems more integrated.

[george_franz]

When canvas question banks are shared, the images in the questions link back to images in the original course.  This causes major isses if you edit the question , or the original owner changes their course.  Look at the html of your question and see if it links to your cours, or another course.

I feel like re-linking questions to files/images local to the coruse should be the default action for importing a course.

[kdolan1]

There are bunch of tickets open  about this.  I'm re-adding observations here regarding the broken Image on Safari (not Chrome or Firefox) when accessing the page for the second time. The issue still exists as of Oct 12, 2021 and it's not clear if it's a site implementation issue with headers and proxy settings. The issue is when images are uploaded to Canvas and, in the background, saved on an AWS S3 instance, or something similar. 

To duplicate the issue:

1. In Safari browser, latest version or earlier, Go to site (https : //) cidilabs.instructure.com/courses/3/pages/upload-slash-embed-image-test

2. Then refresh that page to see the broken image link.

Workarounds:

• Always open a private browser when going to that page with Safari. The issue only happens when the image is cached.

• Add a terminating solidus (forward slash) to all image src links that are cached CORS redirect paths. The issue only happens when the redirect path looks like a file not a directory.

• Make the image src URL a DIFFERENT host than the page it's embedded in. The issue only happens if the cached image src redirect URL is the *same* host as the web page.

• Use FireFox or Chrome when going to a page with a CORS image src redirect. The issue only happens with Safari.