Canvas Release: Direct Share (2020-01-18)

erinhmcmillan
Instructure Alumni
Instructure Alumni

This document introduces the Direct Share feature as noted in Canvas Release Notes (2020-01-18) 

 

This feature was enforced for all Canvas institutions in Canvas Release Notes (2020-07-18)  

 

For additional feature updates, please refer to the direct share release notes entries.

Direct Share allows users to copy individual course items to another course and share individual items with other users. This change allows content to be shared directly in Canvas without having to use a secondary repository like Commons. 

 

 

Account Management

Permissions

Users who want to share content directly must have the Course Content - add / edit / delete permission. 

 

At the account level, account admins have this permission by default. 

 

At the course level, TA, Teacher, and Designer-based roles have this permission by default.

 

APIs

Users with permission can manage content with the Content Shares API.

 

Course-Level Features

 

In Assignments, Quizzes, Discussions, and Pages, instructors can copy content to another course and share individual content items with another user. 

 

Send to and Copy to options in assignments

 

The menu for individual content items also include the Send To and Copy To links.

 

Send to and Copy to links in an individual assignment

 

Note: If the content being shared or copied includes other content in the course (such as a quiz that includes a file), only the direct content item selected for sharing/copying will be included. The additional files must be shared/copied individually.

 

Send Content

The Send To option is used to send content to another user.

 

Users can search for other users via email address. Content can only be sent to users with instructor-based roles who can manage course content. Users can be identified by typing at least the first three letters of a user’s name in the search field. Search results display users by name and email address. Select the name of the user when it appears.

 

Send To window with selected user

Send To Window with user added

 

The same content may be sent to more than one user by adding other users individually.

 

When all users have been added and the content has been sent, the window confirms the content has been shared successfully.

 

Send To Window Confirmation

 

Copy Content

The Copy To option is used to copy content to another course. Instructors can only copy content to their own courses. Admins can copy content to any course in the account.

 

To copy content, locate the course where the content should be copied by typing at least the first three letters of a course name in the search field. Search results display courses by name. Select the name of the course when it appears.

 

Copy To window with course name selected

 

The content can be placed within a specific module in the course, if applicable. This menu is optional. 

 

Copy To window with selected course and Module window

 

To use the module option, type at least the first three letters of the module in the search field. Search results display modules by name. Select the name of the module when it appears.

 

When all fields have been completed and the content has been copied, the window confirms the content copy process has started successfully. The content may take a few minutes to display in the selected course.

 

Copy To Window Confirmation

 

User-Level Features

Any user who receives shared content from another user is notified about the content In the User Navigation Menu. Shared content is indicated in the user’s Account icon and also in the Shared Content link.

 

User Navigation Menu with Shared Content Link

 

Shared Content Page

Shared content items are listed in the page in reverse chronological order. Additionally, pagination is supported after a user has received 10 content shares.

 

Each content item displays the title of the content, the type of content, the user who sent the content, and the date and time received.

 

Shared Content Page with shared content

 

Users can manage the content item within the page by clicking the Actions menu. Options include previewing the item, importing the item, or removing the item.

 

  • Preview: The user can preview the content item directly from the page. The content loads in the same window and the user can close the window after the content is reviewed.
  • Import: The user can import the content into a course using the same functionality as copying content to another course.
  • Remove: The user can remove the content from the page and take no action. A separate window will display to confirm the removal.

 

Shared Content page with action items

 

Content items are considered read once the user has selected an action for each content item. However, content items can be manually marked as read or unread by clicking the dot next to the item. Unread content items are displayed in the account’s primary color.

 

Community Resources

Future Enhancements

This document outlines existing functionality included in the initial release of this feature. The direct share functionality may continue to receive additional feature enhancements over future releases as indicated in Release Notes. Please follow the release notes for future functionality updates, which will be indicated by the direct_share tag.

 

Customer Feedback

Community feedback for this feature is welcome per Canvas Community Feedback Guidelines, which outlines general feedback, broken functionality, and feature enhancements.

 

Feature enhancements should include the direct_share tag. Before submitting a new idea, please review all existing Direct Share feature ideas.

 

Feature Documentation

Documentation for this feature is available in the Canvas Guides.

Labels (1)