[ARCHIVED] How do I edit or delete "Saved comment for reuse"?

[chad_cameron]

In Speedgrader > View Rubric you have the option to "Save this comment for reuse" under the Ratings column.

I've done this a few times.

Now I'd like to remove some comments or edit them.

How do I at least delete, if not edit, these items in the drop-down menu once they are created?

[KristinL]

Hi  @chad_cameron ‌ -

I'm sorry that your question has gone unanswered for so long!

If you're referring to the information from this document ( How do I use free-form comments instead of ratings in a rubric in SpeedGrader? ), comments from rubrics are not editable or able to be deleted. It looks like you aren't the only Canvas Community member who has requested these changes either. The following ideas are in Cold Storage because they were archived during the feature idea process:

https://community.canvaslms.com/ideas/8399 

https://community.canvaslms.com/ideas/3064 

I think it makes a lot of sense for instructors to be able to edit/delete the comments they save for reuse. Maybe those comments could be accessed through Outcomes then manage rubrics. If you submit a feature idea in https://community.canvaslms.com/community/ideas?sr=search&searchId=7537e1e9-8551-4d5b-a6a2-26fbef06d...‌, please link it to this discussion. That way, if others find this, they may help vote and share their comments.

[jmmartin]

 @chad_cameron ‌ I'm grading now and would love to delete a comment but I don't know how to do so. Also, there it's only allowing me to save two comments. Sometimes I get a write a better "reuseable" comment, and want to delete one and have my new and better comment saved as one of the two. How do I get this question/wish brought out of cold storage?

[rgo877]

I found this thread today because like many other instructors, I want to be able to delete saved comments in rubrics.  It seems like everyone agrees that this is a sensible thing to do (in what other online service is it impossible to delete your own comments?).  I'm sorry to say I don't understand why this was sent to "cold storage" when the existing system is so obviously flawed.  Your system requiring people to vote on things they would like changed is inadequate given that there's no way for someone to know that an idea has been proposed until they personally encounter the problem ... search for the answer ... and find their way to this discussion where it's too late to do anything about.

Can I suggest that really obvious usability problems like this one be prioritized even if the people affected can't muster a large number of votes in a short period of time?

[rebyers]

It is now the end of 2023, just over 6 years since this was originally posted.  Everyone commenting over the past years has agreed this this is an obvious necessity (if you can delete saved comments in the notes in speed-grader, why not in a rubric?!).  I have now run into the same issue and come to this discussion to find that it's basically been ignored for 6 years.  Not completely sure how the whole "community voting on something" works, but this seems so basic and obvious (and already implemented elsewhere) that it's baffling it hasn't been addressed in 6 years.

[Chris_Hofer]

@rebyers ...

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Not completely sure how the whole "community voting on something" works, but this seems so basic and obvious (and already implemented elsewhere) that it's baffling it hasn't been addressed in 6 years.

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These Guides may be of help to you:

• How do Ideas and Themes work in the Instructure Co... - Instructure Community
• How do I participate with themes? - Instructure Community

[Chris_Hofer]

Hello there,  @chad_cameron ...

I have been reviewing older questions here in the Canvas Community, and I came across your question.  I wanted to check in with you because I noticed that we have not heard back from you since you first posted this question on November 15, 2017.  It looks like  @KristinL  was able to provide you with some feedback on March 20, 2018.  Have you had an opportunity to review her reply?  If so, has her response helped to answer your question?  Do you have any outstanding questions for Community members as it relates to your original question?  If you feel that Kristin's response has helped to answer your question, please feel free to mark her response as "Correct".  However, if you are still looking for some help or assistance, please come back to this topic to post a message below so that someone from the Community might be able to assist you.  For now, I am going to mark your question as "Assumed Answered" because we've not heard back from you and because there hasn't been any new activity in this thread for about four months. However, that won't keep you or others from posting additional questions and/or comments below that are related to this topic.  I hope that's alright with you, James.  Looking forward to hearing back from you soon.

[rgo877]

I don't see any option to mark Kristen's answer as "correct."  But in any event, I think of "correct" as meaning that she solved my problem.  Reporting that the problem can't be solved does not feel like a "correct" answer to me.  Perhaps you should have a choice such as "correct but unsatisfactory" ... and have those answers registered as votes in favor of fixing the problem.

[LesterLoschky]

Hi Chofer,

I see that a large number of Canvas users have asked for Canvas to allow instructors to delete their "saved comments" in Canvas rubrics.  Canvas users have been asking for this since the original posting in 2018.  It is now 2021, and those requests do not seem to have been addressed.  Each person who has requested that change had to search the web to find this discussion thread, in hopes of finding out how to solve the problem.  And each of us has found that the problem has not been addressed. How long must Canvas users be forced to request the same change to the usability of Canvas without it being implemented?

I look forward to your response!

Best wishes,

Les Loschky

[lboettcher]

I wholeheartedly agree with your sentiments. I find the inability to edit highly frustrating. I'm curious why it is taking so long to implement when Canvas seems to do such a thorough job implementing other instructor feedback in their updates.

[subrudvi]

I don't believe free-style comments can be edited in rubrics. Even more problematic is that these comments are available to students to use for peer reviews.  

[sholleykline]

Yes – I was unaware of this and began providing student feedback on my rubrics, only to find student peer reviewers parroting my feedback to their peers. If these saved comments can't be deleted (which is itself a problem) than at least a notification that this is the case would be helpful. If I had known, I wouldn't have saved a single comment.

[kropczjn]

The only way I've figured to edit saved comments is to recreate the whole assignment, copy the rubric and start over from the beginning. I wish you could right-click the comment and just delete it. I love that the comments are saved from previous semester, it makes my work a lot faster, but after a few years the list of comments gets very long and the trends in student errors change because I update the assignment instructions to make clear to students to not stumble into the pitfalls that students had in the past. 

[camilletuc]

I absolutely agree!!!

[katie_wheaton]

I am also finding this very frustrating. I took over a class from another instructor and have no way of removing comments that were relevant to his exam last year and not my own. Please move this to a high priority fix for future releases!

[smithgordon]

I have to say the the inability to edit comments in rubrics is what I personally find to be the single worst "feature" in the whole of Canvas. It really makes me wonder what kind of feedback instructors are giving their students on assignments, if they cannot easily edit and save comments for re-use. IMHO, ratings are nearly useless in terms of specific feedback to students.

[pabecker]

Agreed!  This is also problematic when a course is inherited, and the previous instructor saved multiple comments for reuse, that you do not wish to use yourself!

[adam_cooper]

I also would like this feature added. I would like to edit or delete comments in the ratings section of the rubric that are saved for reuse. As earlier mentioned the only workaround is to recreate the assignment.

[rick_franich]

+1  ...Has this really not been addressed after 2.5 years? It is such an obvious need, only someone who has never marked student work would not recognise this as essential (and such a person shouldn't be designing/developing this system!). When tutors add comments, the list grows. Other tutors start using those comments. Sometimes they are not appropriate, or poorly written by inexperienced tutors, but we cannot remove them. Soon the list is so long that it is unusable, and becomes redundant. You should be able to build and edit a table of Saved/Library comments, and even copy them across into the Saved Comment table of another rubric/course.

[camilletuc]

I came here with the same problem too! I have adjusted comments over the years and I import courses so it migrates comments from say 3 years ago. I can't believe this hasn't been fixed! Ugh. Canvas. Please give us the function to be able to go in an edit or delete "saved" comments from the rubric grading.

[IEML11]

I also would like to be able to decide whether I want to keep my additional comments when I reuse my matrix for a new assignment. It would be helpful if one could at least download the comments. Years ago (old Blackboard), I used to have all my comments in a word document and copy appropriate from there. It seems to be more straightforward (and editable) than the current Canvas solution.

[susan_day]

This is a big problem because if I copy a rubric and edit it to make a new rubric--these comments come with it. Very annoying.

[cpauli]

This is an obvious problem for graders, and it led to needless anxiety for two of my students. They had successfully completed a long list of steps for their assignments.  But I clicked on the wrong list--one I had written for a student who misunderstood and failed on the final steps.  I inadvertently saved that comment, could not delete it, and could not distinguish it from the correct comment without opening it each time.  Please fix this obvious problem.

[a_biagi]

Please add this feature Canvas! 

[TimothyJackson2]

100% agree this should be a standard feature. Saved comments are incredibly useful. Really silly that we can't edit them at all. Please add this as soon as possible.

[SuzieW]

I agree with the prior statements in this thread. I have seen not being able to edit saved comments on a rubric create a problem when:

• students see and are able to use the same rubric for a peer review (when original feedback is desired)
• assignment feedback changes over time due to slight changes in the assignment which render some prior comments less applicable 
• courses are inherited and the instructor would like to save only their own comments

I wish Canvas would:

• make it possible for instructors to edit or delete saved comments
• have a checkbox where instructors could choose to hide saved comments from other users (at least from students completing peer reviews)!

The resolution to create a separate rubric really does not resolve the issue.