[Notifications] Formatting of Announcement Notifications

[ddilkes]

It would be great to see more information in the announcement email notifications. At the moment, the formatting and images are all stripped from the notifications. The email notification also does not include information on who posted the announcement- it would be great if they included the poster and even the profile pic by default.

Could we please maintain formatting and images in email announcement notification?

[1086095]

I had created a separate, more specific feature idea that I am hoping can get added to this more general request, which is for notifications to include the images that are in the original announcement. 

As others have probably mentioned: Currently, images that are added to an announcement via the Embed image function in the Rich Content Editor or from the Content Uploader >> Images tab do not appear in the notifications.

Screenshot of announcement

Screenshot of notification of the same announcement, viewed from email. Images are missing.

As you can see in the notification, the message the instructor writes becomes somewhat confusing, as there isn't even a placeholder to denote the presence of an image that they are referring to. I seem to recall that there at least used to be an image tag, but this is no longer available. 

If the image is not going to be embedded, at least put a placeholder or a link to the image.

[simona_schneide]

I second: please maintain formatting and images in email announcement notification.

It doesn't make sense to have the options to format when creating an announcement but that formatting changes such as color aren't included in the emails. Most students don't see the original announcement on the canvas site so they never see the formatting.

[bgarner]

I third. Is there an update on this idea or related comments on behalf of Canvas? Understandably, Canvas Conversations was likely intended for quick messaging within the system. However, Announcements tend to be more robust and full of details. The fact that an email is auto-generated when the Announcement is posted to the course is a feature MANY appreciate. But if the formatting is stripped upon receipt of the announcement, then the announcement has a reduced impact on the receiving population. 

Would it be possible to put a standard message generated by an announcement, something to the effect:

[This message may contain embedded images, formatting and other elements that can be viewed in the Announcements tab of your course] or something like Outlook [to view this message with formatting and images, click here ---> link takes them to the full announcement in the course]. 

See below recently submitted from a professor:

I imagine the issue of formatting in Canvas is not a new issue, but I’m wondering if the Canvas folks are doing something about this as it’s a real problem when trying to communicate with my students.

For instance, attached are three screenshots. The first is what I wrote in the Canvas announcement submission box (w formatting), the second is how the announcement appears on Canvas after I submitted it, and the third is how it appears in the email received by the students. As you can see, the last one in particular is a jumbled mess that is mostly unintelligible for my students, of which I’m sure most of students would just ignore.

[Renee_Carney]

The Radar idea stage has been removed from the Feature Idea Process.  You can read more about why in the blog post Adaptation: Feature Idea Process Changes.

This change will only impact the stage sort of this idea and will not change how it is voted on or how it is considered during prioritization activities.  This change will streamline the list of ideas 'open for voting', making it easier for you to see the true top voted ideas in one sort, here.

[tuc32165]

I very much want to see the formatting I put into the Announcement  appear in the e-mail version the students recieve when I post it. I use color and indentations to differentiate between quotes from them and my resopnses. I also show pictures of their work. None of this makes it into the e-mail. 

Please fix this as it was present via Blackboard and I'm surprised (and irritated) it's not here. 

[szfavori]

Well put. This should be basic functionality for announcements. It is pointless to have formatting that disappears. Recipients aren't aware of the missing formatting so they just assume the person who posted the announcement doesn't know what they are doing.

Bob Favorite BS, RVT

University of California, Davis

Vet Med Dean's Office

Gourley Clinical Teaching Center ● rm 1133

rwfavorite@ucdavis.edu

Phone (530) 752-2353

Fax (530) 752-8057

Please consider the environment before printing this e-mail.

[jlschandler]

Yes yes yes - Can I click like some more times!!!!!  

This isn't really a feature at all - I would classify the stripping of the formatting as a bug in the design of the canvas software

[jbraverm]

The format of the email notification seems inefficient.  Why are the margins set that way?  And why is the font so small, and in gray not black?  I'd say it's an intentional design thing... 

I read most of the thread above, but might have missed some of the parts addressing this concern.

In any case, would be nice to have a more "plain text" announcement and let the recipients' email software format it.

[Hildi_Pardo]

(I had opened a New Idea, but was told to post this here)

Last week I posted an Announcement with a video, which I recorded using the newly improved media recording tool.  I later found out staff received the Announcement via their work email without the video. In fact, there is no link or any other visual letting people know there was supposed to be a video.

This was a monthly announcement, and I used the video to Demo the media recording tool, and provide ideas for use  (as well as explaining the Delayed Posting featured).   This was done in a district-wide, staff course to communicate all things Canvas. Busy teachers can see the Announcement in their email, but don't know they missed an instructional video, and have no notification telling them to take the extra steps to navigate to the Canvas course to see the video in the Announcement.

Since all the staff are enrolled in this course, and since I assume the media recording files live within my course, it would be awesome if the video displayed somehow, or at least if there was a thumbnail of the video with a link back to the course to see the video.

[britain_woodman]

So, when I mouse over on Chris Ward's name above, I notice that they are no longer active in the community ("deactivated" status in fact).

Can Chris' successor share whether any enhancements to messaging might be on the horizon? Faculty still ask, for even just bullets and line breaks, in the email version.