How to Hide/Turn Off Emoji icon in the Grading Comments section

[julia-hutchins]

When adding comments to a grade, there is an annoying option to add emojis in the lower right corner of the comments box. The problem is that it always gets in the way of the text I'm typing. I end up having to stretch the comment box longer so that icon is not in the way. 

Is there a way to turn off/disable/hide that emoji icon?

Click here to view a screenshot of the issue

[Chris_Hofer · Accepted solution]

Good morning, @julia-hutchins ...

Yes...  in your course "Settings" screen, click on the "Feature Options" tab.  Then, look for the row that says, "Emojis in Submission Comments".  Do you have the option to toggle it on/off?  If so, that's where you can do this.

[Chris_Hofer · Accepted solution]

Good morning, @julia-hutchins ...

Yes...  in your course "Settings" screen, click on the "Feature Options" tab.  Then, look for the row that says, "Emojis in Submission Comments".  Do you have the option to toggle it on/off?  If so, that's where you can do this.

[Michaeldwilson1]

Thank you!

[smithr2]

The trouble with this solution is that I don't want to turn off emojis entirely, but I don't want the icon inside the text box. The icon below the text box is fine. Why is it where I need to write?

[Chris_Hofer]

@smithr2 ...

I don't have a clear answer for you on this...since I do not work for Instructure (the folks that make Canvas).  However, if you have the Feature Option for "Emojis in Submission Comments" turned off (so that the emoji image isn't within that textbox of your SpeedGrader), you can still use emojis in your comments.  At least for me on my Windows 11 laptop, when I use my Microsoft Edge browser, I can right-click within that text box, and a small menu appears with an option for "Emoji" (keyboard shortcut is Win + Period).  I can choose whatever emojis I want for my comments.  Here's an example:

Do you think this would work for your needs?

[david_pennay]

Hi, I don't have the above option  to turn emojis off in the Feature options. so how do i get rid of the emojis? 

[Chris_Hofer · Accepted solution]

Good evening, @david_pennay ...

You will need to have a discussion with your school's Canvas administrator about this.  From a Canvas administrator's perspective, there are essentially four "states" that this particular feature can have:

1. Completely off for all courses in your school's Canvas environment.  No instructor can turn it on in his/her course(s).
2. Off by default, but instructors can turn it on per course.
3. On by default, but instructors can turn it off per course.
4. Completely on for all courses in your school's Canvas environment.  No instructor can turn it off in his/her courses(s).

It almost sounds like your Canvas administrator(s) have chosen option #4 for you and your fellow colleagues who also teach in Canvas.  Maybe if you have a conversation with this person(s), you could ask them to consider changing it to option #3?  Here is a Guide that also explains the for "states" that I described above:

How do I manage new features for an account? - Instructure Community (canvaslms.com) - Look at the very bottom of this Guide...under "View Feature State Tooltips".

I hope this will help a bit.  Good luck as you have these conversations with people at your school.