Discussion Board Sidebar

[TriciaVanLaar]

Is there a way to turn off the reply sidebar? It is awful. It doesn't allow me to see the whole thread as I could before and it posts my reply to the main board instead of the thread at least 50% of the time.

[chriscas · Accepted solution]

Hi @TriciaVanLaar,

It sounds like you have have Discussion/Announcements Redesign enabled in your course right now.  If your school/institution allows, you could disable the feature option to go back to the classic discussions interface without the sidebar.

-Chris

[TriciaVanLaar]

Oh my goodness you are awesome! This worked for me and makes looking at threaded replies so much clearer. I appreciate it!

[RyanWilcox]

@TriciaVanLaar You don't have to revert to old discussions to get rid of the sidebar.  The discussion redesign has multiple views.

You can toggle between "view inline" and "view split screen".  See the screenshots provided.   The sidebar only appears with the split view.

[fpaiano]

The View Split Screen toggle just doesn't work. No matter what, it keeps opening up that awful side panel. Canvas is becoming more and more like Blackboard! Damned! I have hated the new discussion forums since they started and we are all just screwed.

[chriscas]

Hi @fpaiano,

You can pretty much get back the "old" discussion view at this point by setting the default thread state to expanded and the sort order from oldest to newest in the discussion settings, then choosing the inline view as you're reading the discussion.  I was never a fan of the split screen (a.k.a. sidebar) view myself with the new discussion preview either when it was basically forced upon everyone.  Now that it's an option you can select as a user, I do think its useful for users who do actually prefer that view, but also lets those of us who prefer the "classic" view to have that too.

-Chris