[Modules] Selecting and Moving Multiple Items in Modules

[e08949]

I am working on a new semester in Canvas. I have moved over my old content from Blackboard. I am now trying to organize items a bit better into modules. It would be wonderful if there was a way to select multiple items in the modules sections and move them all at once to a new or different module. Thanks!

[wardse]

I haven’t been able to select a group of items to move altogether. I’d like to be able to highlight sometimes 5 items within a module and move them all at the same time rather than moving one at a time. Is that possible now? If not, can a feature like that be created?

[GaleRM]

Last year and this year when I move the county created modules around, I haven’t been able to select a group of items to move altogether. I’d like to be able to highlight sometimes 5 items within a module and move them all at the same time rather than moving one at a time. Is that possible now? If not, can a feature like that be created?

Thanks

Gale

[PaleoKat]

Holy Frittata yes! This would save soooo much time! It's incredibly frustrating when you need to reorder dozens of items, one at a time. 

[kmyavuz]

This would be super helpful!

[TamaraPalmier]

Please add this feature of moving multiple pages in a module as well as parts of module. 

[ElisaBarneySmit]

Yes please. I don't know why this wasn't in the initial instantiation of Canvas. It is also relevant as when you add an item to a module, it goes in the bottom, and I often want new items at the top so students see that there is something new there. moving lots of items when you have to scroll a lot is such a time sink. I think I spend a lot more time getting things into the right places in Canvas than I ever did in BlackBoard. I am not impressed, but don't have a choice in the process.

[rmillhouse]

I think it is clear this is something they have no intention of considering.  Much to my and others' disappointment.

Elisa, if you click on the three dots on the right side of the assignment, you can then click "Move To" in the drop-down menu.  This gives you the option to move it to the top of a module or group, the bottom, or before or after a particular item.  What would make this feature wonderful instead of painfully annoying is the ability to do it in bunches, to move, say five assignments to the same spot with a minimum of clicks.  The fact that this complaint about moving multiple items appears here and elsewhere, going back years, means, as I suggest, we will never have such a feature.  I mean, if Microsoft Office can do it, can it be that hard for Canvas?

[garrett_95]

Yes, please respond to all these comments. It's so frustrating to waste so much time when we have too much work to do anyway. I think my university made a huge mistake switching to Canvas.

[RussEckhardt]

This is incredibly frustrating the way Canvas has been ignoring this.  Teachers have been asking for this capability for much, much longer than January 2019 - I submitted a ticket myself at least three years before that when I was first forced to use Canvas in my school district.  

Look at the way Canvas "support" treats this glaring oversight, as well as how they treat their customers.  This question has been asked MULTIPLE times over the years, but their "solution" isn't one, and only highlights their overall incompetence:  https://community.canvaslms.com/t5/Canvas-Question-Forum/Moving-multiple-pages-in-modules/m-p/210594...

Also, note that after the customer clearly states they have 200+ items to move, @ericwerth actually has the audacity to say, "I can see how this would be beneficial, although personally I haven't had trouble with the current functionality slowing me down."

Really, Eric?  You can see how being able to move more than one thing at a time, when you literally have hundreds, "can be beneficial", but you're not convinced because YOU seem to be doing okay?  For now let's ignore how super awesome it was of you to imply that the person asking you for help is slower and not as skilled as you, the Canvas expert, great job taking a customer's request for help and making it personal and subtly passive aggressive like that ("Yeah, I mean, I GUESS what you're asking for might be kinda neat, but, I mean, I'm able to get MY work done, so maybe learn to work faster?"), you must be super fun at parties - but tell me this, when you cut and paste text from one place to another, do you do it one letter at a time?  If you spill a box of rice krispies, do you reach for a pair of tweezers to pick them all up one krispie at a time?  Do you eat one macaroni at a time when you have mac and cheese?  Do these examples sound absurd?  Yeah?  That's how absurd it is to NOT have this capability, and how absurd your response is, and how absurd it is for Canvas to ignore this for SO **bleep** LONG.

As that response highlights, and others have correctly pointed out, Canvas refuses to  acknowledge that this is a problem.  Since my first ticket years ago, I've changed schools and platforms, and now for some ungodly reason ($$ in someone's pocket, obviously) I have to go back to using Canvas - only to find that the single most useful function it could ever possibly implement is STILL being ignored.  Years later and it's still "open", it's still a "suggestion".  Years later, and I still have hundreds - yes, that is correct, HUNDREDS - of files to move in my course modules.

One.

Item.

At.

A.

Time.

So that will take me the better part of an hour, just for that one course.  I have a dozen courses right now.

Part of me wants to give the benefit of a doubt - maybe it's just really, really technically difficult to implement.  Okay, sure, it might be, I don't know, I'm not a programmer.  If that is indeed the case, SAY SO!!  It's absurd that customers have to ask for this in the first place, and even more absurd that you act like it's not a big deal.  Please, make no mistake:  This is a huge, HUGE f*ckup that has continued for YEARS and pretending it doesn't exist only makes it bigger.

What we're asking for is not unusual.  Your entire product is based on using files and folders.  OF COURSE you need to be able to move more than one thing at a time.  It is not only expected, it is NECESSARY, and should have never been released to the public without it.  Imagine releasing Windows, Mac OS, Linus, or literally any other application that uses files and folders, and NOT having that capability.  FOR YEARS.  And pretending like it's not an issue.  FOR YEARS.

[ericwerth]

Hi @RussEckhardt, Eric Werth here. Just a couple of quick thoughts for your consideration. First, just FYI, I'm a fellow Canvas customer as well, not an employee of the company. Second, it sounds like you are really having a challenging time. In 100% honesty, I am sorry to hear that. I work with lots of faculty and know how frustrating things can be when something doesn't work effectively. Third, I don't do passive aggressive. I find it unprofessional and unnecessarily negative, and isn't there enough negativity in the world already? If you or anyone else took my thought that the drag/drop feature works pretty well for me as indication that somehow I am superior to you, I do apologize. I'm just a guy, working each day to be better than yesterday. I think that I may have 2000 replies or so in the Community over the years and hopefully this is the only one that came across that way. I do move a lot of module content for a lot of people. The idea originally posted is a good one, which is why I voted it up at the time. Will it impact me a great deal, probably not. Will I celebrate if voting it up plays a role in having it implemented and benefiting others, certainly.

I know that some people really like links to files directly in their modules and it works for them. However, we have had some faculty go to having a page that is kind of like an index of the files for the week. Rather than messing with a super long module, a page can link to multiple files and allows the faculty to leave text describing the file. This way one doesn't have to deal with files in modules at all. They can all be linked in the one page and live in the Files tab. It isn't the same as the idea request, but it works for some people.

In regards to your other questions. No, I do not cut/paste one word at a time, if I spill a box of Rice Krispies, the dog gets a second breakfast and I don't eat mac and cheese (never been a big fan to be honest). Regarding parties, I don't know. Do we all believe that we are more fun at parties than we really are? I just hope that there is something to eat other than mac and cheese and know that no matter what, my dog will always be excited to see me when I get home.

Truly, I wish you the best. May your file moving go as smoothly as possible, your classes copy from one session to another perfectly from now on, and your semester be COVID free!