Use of Stylus with DOCViewer

[GideonWilliams]

This idea has been developed and deployed to Canvas

This idea is applicable to any 2-in-1 / hybrid device with stylus capacity eg Chromebook, Surface Pro 4, Yoga, ASUS etc.

Microsoft's recent education event (May 2017) highlighted the increasing opportunities for schools to invest in low cost 2-in-1 hybrids running Windows 10. Since then at least 5 new devices have been released - 5 Budget Windows Hybrids 2-in-1 Tablets and Laptops for Schools – Colour My Learning . Many schools, including our own, are now looking at these as viable alternatives to 1-1 iPads.

The potential of inking is huge, not just in the hands of students but for teachers and marking.

Canvas has just released DOCViewer in Beta. As yet it is not possible to annotate work inline using the stylus (at least on my Surface Pro).

We would love to see inking/hand-written/stylus based annotations being available for those using Canvas via the browser.

This idea has been added to our product plan for Q1 2019 and will influence development within Canvas. Follow this idea to receive updates as they are available.

:smileyinfo: Adding this idea to our product plan means we will be working on it, but it does not guarantee that it will be developed exactly as defined by the idea, or that it will be added to the production environment.

Read more about the feature idea process:

• Adaptation: Feature Idea Process Changes‌
• How does the feature idea process work in the Canvas Community?
• What is the feature development process for Canvas? ‌

Comments from Instructure

For more information, please read through the https://community.canvaslms.com/docs/DOC-16291-canvas-release-notes-2019-02-16 .

[GideonWilliams]

I have created a New Idea asking for the functionality of this feature to be improved which avoids pressing down any buttons when annotating.

Please add your votes but more importantly comments here - https://community.canvaslms.com/ideas/14045-improving-stylus-functionality-in-docviewer

[dhallstone86]

I don’t know how to vote, but I first found this site because I was looking for a solution to this problem. It is not at all usable in this fashion for most people. Maybe some have the fine motor skills to hold the pen button down and still write carefully but I cannot. And of courseif you try to expand the page to hopefully make it clearer, you make a big mess of the whole thing.

[GideonWilliams]

Donnie to vote you need to have an account with the Community. At the top of the idea  on this link - https://community.canvaslms.com/ideas/14045-improving-stylus-functionality-in-docviewer?sr=search&se... is a button to press Vote Up or Vote down. Hope that helps?

[lmrezac]

Yes!  I have those problems.  

[GideonWilliams]

Hi Lisa. I started another Idea for this at - https://community.canvaslms.com/ideas/14045-improving-stylus-functionality-in-docviewer  but according to Instructure, the issues have been fixed. I guess I need to start a further Idea and ask people to submit some examples?

[erinhmcmillan]

Hi, Gideon,

Ideas are for functionality that doesn't already exist. So submitting a support case would be the best way to manage this request. Submitting a ticket from the device where you are trying to use DocViewer is also helpful so the developers can view your device information.

Thanks,

Erin

[isabel_hernande]

Please implement this.  It would give me my life back to be able to mark papers with a stylus directly in SpeedGrader.