Mass Delete Messages

[Bill_C]

Can we mass delete Canvas "messages" rather than one by one?
I have tried the CTRL+A but that does not work for me.  I can only get it to somewhat work if I click a few messages and then hold shift to get the ones not marked for deletion.  Very time consuming.

[Chris_Hofer · Accepted solution]

Hi @Bill_C ...

You should be able to select a range of messages in your Canvas Inbox so you can delete them all at the same time.  I'm on a Windows 11 laptop, and I did the following:

1. Click on the first message on the left side of my Canvas Inbox so it is highlighted in light blue.
2. Scroll down the list of messages to find the last message I want to delete.
3. Hold down the Shift key on my keyboard, and click on that message on the left.  You should see a check-mark icon next to each message, and each message should be highlighted in light blue.
4. Click the "Delete" (trash can) icon at the upper right corner of the screen.

Check out the section on "Select Multiple Conversations" in this Guide:

How do I delete a conversation in the Inbox? - Instructure Community - 616672 (canvaslms.com)

I hope this helps a bit.

[gheinzel]

It would be so nice to have a simple 'select-all' choice as opposed to this byzantine method.

[Chris_Hofer]

Hi @gheinzel ...

I understand, and I agree that having a true "Select All" option would be handy in the Canvas Inbox.  I did a bit of searching for existing ideas here in the Community, and I came across the following:

• Inbox Select All - Instructure Community - 419811 (this one is now archived)
• addition of "select all" feature for emails/messag... - Instructure Community - 430184 (this one is now archived)
• Canvas Inbox: Select All to delete multiple messag... - Instructure Community - 425784 (this one is now archived)
• Inbox: need 21st century features! - Instructure Community - 409094 (this one is now archived)

So, as you can see, there have been a handful of submitted ideas in the past, but they didn't quite make it to implementation.  Maybe it would be time to submit a new idea to see if it gains any traction this time 'round?

But, just so you know, the entire idea process is going through some changes at the moment.  You can read more about these changes by checking out:

Turning Your Feedback into Better Prioritization and Release Processes: Our Path Forward

Here are the Guides related to creating new ideas:

• What is the feature development process for Instructure products?
• How do Ideas work in the Instructure Community?
• What are the guidelines for submitting a new idea?
• How do I create a new idea in the Instructure Community?

I hope this information will be of some help to you.  Good luck!