Features Q&A: Canvas Deploy Notes (2025-05-21)

[InstContentTeam]

Looking to discuss these features from the 2025-05-21 Deploy Notes? Post a reply and start a conversation!

Updated Features

• Analytics: New Course Analytics LTI 1.3 Upgrade- Admin [Delayed as of 2025-05-21]
• New Quizzes: Enhanced Moderation Tools and Interface Updates- Instructor
• Rich Content Editor: Removal of Resize Icon from RCE Text Box- All Users [Removed as of 2025-05-14]

Other Updates

• Accessibility Updates: Enhanced Structural Clarity- All Users
• Accessibility Updates: Improved Error Feedback- All Users
• Permissions: Updated Manage Assignments and Quizzes Description Text- Admin

ADD FEEDBACK FOR THESE FEATURES IN Q&A TOPIC

• This topic is for feature discussion only—Please share use cases, best practices, questions, clarifications, etc. regarding this feature.
• Please thread replies as possible to keep posts organized. This will help everyone to track discussions and to participate.

ADDITIONAL FEEDBACK—WHERE TO POST IDEA SUGGESTIONS AND SUBMIT BUG REPORTS

• Idea requests for the Product Team to consider should be submitted in ideas.canvaslms.com . This is the best way to ask for additional or alternative functionality than what is included in the release. Linking to the related idea here so others can find it is encouraged!
• Bug reports should be submitted to Canvas Support. This way, cases can be connected and uniform updates can be provided to those involved. Bugs will not be triaged in this thread

[theJBRU]

Yet again requesting addition context and clarity for the Accessibility updates. Since the release notes indicate these will happen "Over the coming months..." it is impossible to know whether changes that impact the way in which any customizations that rely on specific document structure within Canvas will be affected by these updates. Are any changes at all included in this release? If so, what, specifically, is changing? What HTML is being modified on which pages? 

[EmilyCottrell]

Hi,

I am curious why the page resize option in the RCE Text Box needs to be removed in order for the full screen option to still be an accessible option. Our team frequently uses the resize feature and it will be difficult for it to disappear. Why is it that you cannot simply keep both options? What affect does one have on the other? I am absolutely all in favor of having accessible sites, however I don't think the removal of another feature here is necessary. I would love clarification as to why this removal is necessary.

[rmartini]

Hello! I wanted to add a comment about the upcoming change to the Rich Content Editor / Removal of the Resize Icon from RCE Text Box. I tested this in our Beta instance. I have always used the draggable corner to expand the size of the text editor and never needed to use the fullscreen button. I can understand wanting to remove the draggable icon because it's not keyboard accessible. However, what I notice in testing this, is that the button takes over the entire screen (not just the browser window). What this means in reality is if I want to see more than ~13 lines of text, I'm forced to let Canvas take over my entire screen--blocking access to any other tabs or applications I'm referencing when building content. Is there any way to change this to just make the text editor full size within the browser window? I imagine we'll get a lot of complaints about this. 

A few other things to note:

• I'm noticing that there are parts of the RCE that appear blacked out and are difficult to see when navigating through content in full screen. I default to dark mode for my computer/browser and tried modifying my computer's theme and the browser's theme to see if it would change things but couldn't get the text/buttons to fully appear (see the attached photo). I think it's using blue from our Canvas theme, and it makes this text unreadable when in fullscreen.
• Our university uses DesignPLUS. When in fullscreen mode, we cannot use the DesignPLUS Sidebar at all. I will note that DesignPLUS has a "fullscreen" button that expands the RCE to the full size of the browser window while still allowing the sidebar to work--which is ideally what I'd like to see from the RCE's fullscreen button.

[mskoch]

I agree with @rmartini about it being a problem when full-screen mode is the entire display screen vs. browser screen. Besides copying content from documents and files, I often copy and paste structural elements, such as section headers, branding images, etc., from one RCE window (of a page or assignment) to another when updating the content. Without the resize option, I would be stuck with either the tiny window or full screen, making this process cumbersome even with two monitors, and painful If I am using just my laptop.

I also want to suggest that the default RCE window height of about 315px (at least on my 1080P monitor) is insufficient. This is especially evident for pages or assignments that have images or branding graphics at the top (because the image will likely fill the entire RCE window). If the RCE window's default height can be increased, at least the need to use the resize icon would not be almost 100% of the time for me. While this may not be an accessibility problem, it sure does not feel very user friendly.  

[chriscas]

Count me in as another person who is concerned about removing the ability to resize the RCE.  I know the full-screen button is there, but what most users want is just a bigger RCE box, not for it to take over their entire screen.  Maybe you could have some kind of +/- buttons to expand or reduce the height of the RCE by a set amount with each click, but in a more accessible way?

I'll also second @rmartini's comment about the contrast in full-screen RCE mode.  The bottom bar becomes black, but the text/icons are all a very dark color too (maybe even darker than theirs because of our theme colors?), that's very bad for accessibility and usability in general.  This really needs to get addressed ASAP.

-Chris

[chriscas]

I have opened case 12298211 for the contrast issue with the bottom bar in full-screen mode if anyone else would like to create their own tickets and mention mine so we hopefully get some quick attention to this issue.

-Chris

[Blakely]

I had the same dark text in my Canvas Free for Teachers account. I don't think it is related to custom theme or dark mode.

[neeraj245]

I see resize icon is still available in RCE for New quizzes in our beta instance . Is this something expected ?

[Mikee]

I'm going to add my voice here - removal of a feature that's helpful for heavy or advanced users is retrograde. 

Having multiple options for the text entry area is required at a minimum, the resize is nice, but I would happily concede that it can be improved. 

[dgilogley]

Very disappointed by this removal as well.

[AlexAnguix]

Terrible justification for the removal of resize.

• It is keyboard accessible! I can easily tab to the resize button and press up/down to resize!
• If the up/down is the concern then replace the manually resizable box with a dropdown for "Default, Large, Largest" 
• Fullscreen is a terrible option:
  • Prevents side-by-side tabs or apps (Source document one side, Editor on the other)
  • Prevents scrolling up and down to read surrounding material (vital for replying in Discussions)
• Also, this is a fundamental misinterpretation and implementation of accessibility principles. You don't "improve accessibility by eliminating..." features! You add alternative methods so that ALL users can enjoy the feature, e.g. add resize options to the Editors View menu.

[valentinesking]

Pretty, pretty Please! Don't remove the RCE resize feature. I use it all the time when I'm building class or fixing issues in classes- the full screen option is not the same and not wanted.

Val King, the ID

[KataKeri]

Hello everyone! Thank you for your feedback and sharing your very valid concerns about removing the RCE resizer.
I wanted to let you know that I'll bring this back to our Accessibility Team and figure out a solution which would work for everyone. I'll also flag the issue you've pointed out within the full size RCE. Stayed tuned - thank you for your patience! 

[Mikee]

This is most welcome @KataKeri ❤️ 

This is something that I use infrequently, but is important when I do.

[kailey]

Removing the RCE resize feature eliminates its benefits for everyone. Instead, Instructure should make it accessible, so that it increases its usefulness to those who may not be able to use it in its current state. Removing it would just take away existing value. Please reconsider removing this functionality. 

Also, my understanding is that deploys aren't supposed to have major UI impact. Is that not the case? This is a major UI change and should have been included in a release, rather than a deploy. 

[KataKeri]

Hey everyone, just wanted to follow-up: we've removed the change and we'll provide a solution for mobile and tablet view. Thank you again for your insights, and feedback! 

[valentinesking]

Thank you @KataKeri for listening and taking action!

Val King, the ID

[hesspe]

@KataKeri  Apologies: I'm just getting around to looking at the most recent deploy and it seems to me that in the "Course Accommodation" modal, the initial statement:

"These settings will be applied to all the quizzes in this course for this student except for the already in-progress attempts."

is contradicted by the check box:

"Apply these changes to the in-progress attempts as well."

I assume that if the checkbox is checked, that supersedes the initial warning, but I would be uncertain.  Could the text be modified to read something like the following:

These settings will be applied to future quizzes in this course for this student.

[ ] Check here if you want it also to apply to an already in-progress attempt.

Also it seems to me that pluralizing attempts may be misleading.  Is it even possible that there would be more than one in-progress attempt?

[TiffanyStull]

@hesspe I think the problem is less with the contradiction between the warning and the checkbox label, and more with the checkbox label itself. According to the testing I did yesterday when an instructor inquired about the feature, it does not behave as expected. Yesterday, I submitted Case #12342334 to Canvas Support regarding the issue, with the following description.

If you attempt to add an accommodation for a student, select the checkbox "Apply these changes to in-progress attempts as well," and save, the accommodation is not applied to the current quiz attempt. The expected change will not take effect unless you also go into the pencil icon option on the Moderation page and add extra time there. However, if you apply an accommodation at the course level first with the checkbox checked, and then at the quiz level, the student may end up getting more extra time than you intended for the in-progress attempt.

The steps I took in my test site:

1. As instructor, I created and published a quiz in New Quizzes with a 1 hour time limit.
2. In a different browser, I logged in as a student in the course and started the quiz.
3. As the instructor, I went to the Moderate page for the quiz.
4. I selected the student's name, enabled additional time of 30 minutes, and checked the box "Apply these changes to in-progress attempts as well."
5. Going back to the browser where I was taking the quiz as a student, my expectation was that after a short delay, the time limit would increase by the specified amount of extra time. The actual behavior I saw was no change to the time limit, so I tried exiting and re-entering the quiz. It still showed the original time limit on the start screen of the quiz. Resuming the quiz confirmed that the time limit had not changed.
6. As instructor, I then tried using the student's pencil icon on the Moderate page to apply an individual quiz accommodation, adding 30 minutes of extra time.
7. A few seconds after I did that, the student's time limit increased by a full hour, applying both the 30-minute course-level accommodation and the 30-minute additional quiz-level accommodation.
   

[hesspe]

Thanks for clarifying that.  What you describe is more problematic than just ambiguous wording - it's misleading wording.  I wouldn't be upset if they left the warning and removed the checkbox and added messaging that directed people to the pencil icon to add more time to the current attempt.

[TiffanyStull]

I agree - I would prefer that the checkbox be removed than to have it continue to behave as it does now.

[KataKeri]

@hesspe Unfortunately I'm not the product manager for New Quizzes, so I cannot answer these. I forwarded your question to the relevant PM 🙂 

[BalazsSerenyi]

 Thanks @hesspe for the feedback—you’re right that the message is confusing. The top line says in-progress attempts won’t be affected, but the checkbox offers the opposite, which can feel contradictory.

Your wording suggestion is much clearer, and we’ll look into updating the text to avoid confusion. Also good catch on “attempts”—since this applies to a given student, using plural is inaccurate. Appreciate you pointing this out!

[TiffanyStull2]

@BalazsSerenyi can your team please look into the issue reported in Case #12342334? I was told to submit it as an "improvement request" to the Community boards, but the feature does not apply correctly to the current "attempt" (I took the plural to mean attempts in other quizzes as well, as a student can have an attempt currently in progress in each of several available quizzes at the same time.) Either the checkbox should be removed from the modal, with an instruction to use the individual quiz setting to apply extra time to the current in-progress attempt, or the checkbox should be made to function as advertised.

[dbrace]

UPDATE: I would encourage others to review the "Rich Content Editor > Resize Controls" reference at https://community.canvaslms.com/t5/Canvas-Releases/Canvas-Deploy-Notes-2025-07-16/ta-p/649036.

-Doug