[ARCHIVED] How to embed a file in RCE without the option to download

[WillGHampton]

When creating an assignment or page, my faculty need to be able to embed documents for preview in Canvas, without the ability to download.

Previously, there had been custom CSS that would work. Apparently this custom CSS is now broken. Various recommendations on this site include editing out the a href tag's download option. This is not going to work either, as Canvas now uses a class tags instead a href, with no download option.

What we have been doing is embedding the document from the RCE toolbar, then ensuring that the course was in the correct subaccount with the custom CSS.

We are a Microsoft shop, embedding a Google doc won't help us. A pic of the arrow to hide/remove is attached

Thank you in advance for your assistance

[Ron_Bowman]

@WillGHampton -

With the way that used to work for you, was it still possible to right click on the link and select the save link as (or whatever phrasing the browser shows)?  I am just wondering if even if you got the download arrow to go away, that the students would still be able to download the document in that manner.

[NicoletteStaley · Accepted solution]

@WillGHampton Because of the way browsers interact with embedded documents, it is basically impossible to prevent viewers the option to download the file.  Even while hiding obvious download buttons and options on the page, users should still be able to right-click on the file and select the option to save the target file.  The closest option that I can think of for you to be able to prevent (or at least hamper) the ability of viewers to download a file would be to host the file elsewhere (possibly OneDrive since you mention that you utilize Microsoft) and use an iframe to embed the file in the page.    This may effect accessibility including the ability of a screenreader to read the embedded files though, so you may want to consider how some users may be impacted.