[ARCHIVED] How are you supposed to get help here!?

[lglen2]

I get emails to the address I'm subscribed with. I try to follow those emails and I get a page that says "Complete your profile". I /have/ a profile. I /have/ an account and a user name. But I can't get to a page that will let me log in using that information, because I can't get past this page that says "Complete your profile".

I'm met with the same thing when I click on "Support" at the bottom of the page. How are you supposed to get support for logging in if you can't see the interface without logging in!?

I have literally just had to create a new [expletive] account so that I can post this! I DO NOT WANT TWO ACCOUNTS!

[gnoack]

Hi Lglen2, 

I'm sorry you are having so much trouble with the Canvas Community.   Most of the folks here are like myself, other Canvas users who are interested in conversing and helping each other learn and instruct with Canvas.  So, we don't have access to your credentials. 

I do know that your account should be tied to your Canvas instance account, that is, you shouldn't have to login to the Community if you are also logged into Canvas.  At least that is how it works for me.  

These guides will help you get started.  In particular, this one helps with login.  

My suggestion is that you ensure you are logged into your Canvas instance, then try to access the Community.  The authentication should simply pass through.  If that isn't working, you may need to reach out to the IT folks at your institution. 

[lglen2]

Oh, now THAT's interesting; I did not know that!

But I am logged into Canvas - it seems like I'm always logged into Canvas these days... So that begs the question "why do I/can I log in to Community under this new/different account, while logged in to Canvas with a different (desired) account?

[scottdennis]

"it seems like I'm always logged into Canvas these days..."  SadLOLs...  Aren't we all??

If you are logged into the community with one user account and Canvas with another account, all in the same browser I would recommend you follow these steps

1. Click on your profile in Community to logout
2. Same in Canvas - profile... logout
3. Clear your cookies and cache in your browser (either dump all saved or locate the specific Canvas cookie and delete)
4. Reboot
5. Log into Canvas
6. From the Help menu click through to the community
7. Click the Sign In link in the upper right

Hopefully that should set you right, using your main Canvas account. If you would like to have one, or both of you community profiles removed, we can do that for you as well

[scottdennis]

Hello @lglen2 

A dialogue box popping up, asking you to complete your profile doesn't sound like something that should happen in either Canvas out of the box, or here in the Community.  If it is happening in your Canvas instance I suspect that your institution has added a custom component to your Canvas instance.  If it is the tour of Canvas that pops up for new users in Free for Teachers, that should only happen the first time you login as long as you are allowing cookies in your browser.  If we are not talking about that new user tour do you have a way to seek assistance at your local institution?

[lglen2]

Nope, it's neither of those things. A Google search for (for example) "how to [do something] in Canvas" will produce a list of results, and clicking on one of them from the Canvas Community opens a page that asks me to complete my profile. No way to log in, log out, change users, etc. 

It's Canvas Community, specifically, that is the problem, so getting help from my college is irrelevant. Sorry, I guess I didn't make that clear.

[scottdennis]

OK, this is interesting.  So if you click on a link here in the community you are fine but if you click on a link in your search engine that points into the community, you are invited to fill out a profile?  My guess is that this is related to the community migration we did in mid-August.  Is it possible that your web browser is caching links?  I'm guessing you are being pointed to pages that existed in the old community in a way that is somehow circumventing the redirects.  Are you able to use the global search here in the community?  Are you experiencing this across multiple computers and/or browsers?  Could you copy several of the links from the search engine and paste them here so we can see if they linking convention matches the old or new community?

[gnoack]

It could be a cache issue. I would try using a different web browser, or clearing you cache and cookies. 

I do recommend you reach out to your IT folks, I was responsible for implementing Canvas for our institution, and if memory serves, there are settings that need to be set to allow the authentication to pass through to the community.  It might also make a difference if your institution is self-hosted on it's own servers.  

[scottdennis]

I replied to this last night but I must not have clicked the button to post my reply or something.  Strange.

Clearing cache/cookies would definitely be a good idea here and possibly reaching out to IT about any browser restrictions. 

Just FYI; there aren't any settings within Canvas that affect the ability to authenticate into the community.  If someone is authenticated into a cloud instance of Canvas and they attempt to login into the community the integration checks for an active Canvas session and queries Canvas as the IDP.  As far as I know, no self-hosted installations have ever successfully authenticated into the old or this new community platform.  Usually OS users use Free for Teachers or similar to participate in the community.

[gnoack]

Thanks for clarifying. I was confusing Community and Commons. 

[scottdennis]

Oh, that makes sense.  No worries.