[Files] Document Settings Default Changed to Preview Inline

[mcordes1]

Problem statement:

In late 2020, Instructure changed the default and icons for files located in a course and on a page. Previously a magnifying glass accompanied a linked file on a page and defaulted to previewing the document inline (i.e., on the same page w/o a pop-out window). This setting is called "preview inline". To download a file, the user had to click on the title of the file to download. (Note: This icon and default setting change was not articulated in a Release or Deploy note and was found by our team by happenstance; thus, it caused quite a bit of work in hundreds of our courses.)

This change removed the magnifying glass icon and replaced it with an arrow. The arrow is how the user downloads the file. If the user clicks on the file name, the default setting is to have the file pop out; thus, moving the student from the page they are on to a pop-out window with the information. This default setting is called "preview in overlay". The preview in overlay removes the student from the page they desire to be on to a pop-out window that is confusing, adds additional clicks, and goes against the desired end goal of the page. For example, all of our assignment pages have assignment instruction documents. When a student lands on an assignment page, the end goal is that the student submits the assignment in the least number of clicks possible without any confusion.

With the previous default setting of preview inline, the students could stay on the assignment page, and preview the assignment instructions and any other assignment document (i.e., templates, additional resources, etc.). The preview in overlay removes the student from the page they are on and pops out a window with the document preview. Students have to close this window to go back to the assignment page to access the link to submit their assignment. To ensure that our course documents are set to preview inline, we have to train faculty and designers on how to update the link and switch the setting, In addition, we have reports that we generate to check to ensure this setting is correctly selected in our courses; however, we shouldn't have to go through all this trouble to change a default setting on documents in our courses.

Proposed solution:

We would like to be able to set the default setting on all documents in our instance of Canvas to preview inline instead of preview in overlay. This would eliminate the extraneous clicks our teachers and designers must go through to add a document to a page. Furthermore, this would reduce confusion for students when the document link's settings are not changed, keeping the student on the page that needs action instead of popping them out to another spot where they have additional clicks to get back to the action that needs to be completed (i.e., submit an assignment, start a quiz, create a discussion thread/reply).

In addition, it would lighten the load on our IT personnel who maintain the script and reports for identifying when this setting is incorrect in our instance.

Note: In future states, it would also be wise and appreciated to include any icon or default setting changes to go into the Deploy or Release notes. A few weeks ago, you launched an icon change to external links without any communication causing many curricula and IT people on our campus to open help tickets, research the deploy/release notes to see if we missed anything, look at training documents, etc. This would have been avoided had we been provided with documentation before the change.

User role(s):

admin,instructor,student,ta,designer,observer

[canvas_admin]

This would be a MAJOR improvement for us as well.  We much prefer the inline preview rather than overlay, but we have thousands of links that would have to be manually updated. It would be great to have the option to make changes wholesale, while retaining an individual professor's ability to change it if he or she wants to or needs to.