Why won’t my profile picture change?

[katie_salazar]

I currently have an avatar but I've been trying to change my profile pic for the past school year but it won't change. Every time I select a new image as a profile picture all it does is say "selecting image" and it stays like that. I've tried changing it on different web pages such as Safari, Google chrome and also tried it through mobile. Any suggestions?

[Stef_retired · Accepted solution]

Hello,  @katie_salazar  Welcome  to the Canvas Community! This might ultimately require the help of Canvas Support, but I'm going to hazard one guess, and that is that you might have reached your user files quota, which is 50mb (or that the photo file you're trying to upload is too large). Check out How do I view my user files as a student?. If you have a lot of files in there that you don't need, delete some of them, and then try uploading the profile photo again. If that doesn't work, I'd recommend that you start a support case (How do I get help with Canvas?).

[Stef_retired · Accepted solution]

Hello,  @katie_salazar  Welcome  to the Canvas Community! This might ultimately require the help of Canvas Support, but I'm going to hazard one guess, and that is that you might have reached your user files quota, which is 50mb (or that the photo file you're trying to upload is too large). Check out How do I view my user files as a student?. If you have a lot of files in there that you don't need, delete some of them, and then try uploading the profile photo again. If that doesn't work, I'd recommend that you start a support case (How do I get help with Canvas?).

[katie_salazar · Accepted solution]

It worked! I deleted some of my files from my profile to free up some space and I was able to change my profile picture:)

Thank you!

[Stef_retired]

Thank you,  @katie_salazar ‌, for letting us know!

[kblack]

This exact same thing popped up at my institution the past week.  For what it's worth, I created a new Feature Idea to generate some sort of warning for the end-user to realize that this is the issue in this specific case:  https://community.canvaslms.com/ideas/8405-generate-error-message-for-users-if-personal-file-space-i... .

[StraightAgirl23]

I tried everything even the file thing AND IT WONT WORK!!!! Ive been trying for like a month now!! HELP PLEASE!!!!

[StraightAgirl23]

Um, this won’t work! HELP!!!!!!

[n_ross]

I am now having this exact same problem, but I have not reached my personal quota. When I go to change my profile picture it just freezes with "Selecting image..." greyed out, though I can still cancel. Looking at my personal files I can find the image I tried to upload, but my profile picture remains blank.

[kblack]

Hi  @n_ross  Welcome  to the Canvas Community, as well.  I guess the first obvious question is to ensure that your institution allows uploading of the profile picture, though if you see a placeholder for one (as described in the guide), it should.

The other thing to try is, simply, a different browser.  We in the Community have run into various issues with the Edge/Explorer family of browsers for various things, including uploading material.  If you are using a smartphone app rather than a browser, make sure it's up-to-date.

Otherwise, you may need to contact your institution's support center for this or file a support case with Canvas.  (Help>>Report a Problem).

[n_ross]

Hello Ken!

I was changing a profile picture which I had previously uploaded myself, which should answer the first question you had, and I tried doing it in both Google Chrome and Edge on my PC with no joy.

[kblack]

Hmm.  Well, it's hard to say what the issue may be, then.  I guess the best thing to do at this point is reach out to your tech support at your institution and/or use the Canvas help.  I'm sorry I can't help more!

[katie_salazar]

This exactly happened to me! What I did was go to my files in my canvas and I deleted some of the files I've had. Basically, doing this frees up some space on your canvas. Then try again on uploading your picture! Hope this helps!

[n_ross]

So after consultation with tech support, they suggested clearing my cache/cookies. This worked, and enabled me to change my profile picture!

[kblack]

Thanks for letting us know, Nicholas!  Ugh!  I keep forgetting the "clear the cache" mantra myself!