Features Q&A: Canvas Release Notes (2023-07-15)

[HeatherAhern]

Looking to discuss these features from the 2023-07-15 Release Notes? Post a reply and start a conversation!

New Features

• Calendar: Automatically Subscribe Users to Account Calendars

Updated Features

• Inbox: Improved Inbox Functionality
• Settings: Grading Scheme Redesign

Feature Options

• External Tools: Microsoft Teams Sync [Delayed as of 2023-06-21]

Platform/Integration

• Live Events: Data Processing Update
  
  

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

[IanGoh · Accepted solution]

Will “Calendar: Automatically Subscribe Users to Account Calendars” also prevent users from unsubscribing from the account calendar?

Updated 6/26; tested in BETA.  I do not have the option to (x) an auto-subscribed account calendar.

"Canvas Demo Courses" - manually subscribed has an (x) option

"IT Testing" - automatically subscribed does not have an (x) option

[IanGoh]

Not sure if this is a bug.  As I check some people in BETA, my autosubscribed calendar does not seem to be CHECKED on for all students.  Some students have it checked, some don't.

Here's another case where the user should have THREE autosubscribes, but only ONE is checked on.

[IanGoh]

*sigh* it appears that the Account Calendars are counted in the default 10 calendar limit (see https://community.canvaslms.com/t5/Canvas-Basics-Guide/What-is-the-Calendar/ta-p/76)

So in the one case I had above, Sharon already had 9 Calendars ON, and so could only have 1 Other Calendars ON.

[AllisonHowell]

You're right @IanGoh, Account Calendars are currently still subject to the calendar limit for performance reasons. Thanks for your feedback on this and we'll keep listening to understand how much of a problem it is for our users. We want to make sure we prioritize the right things as we look to improve the calendar.

[paulamiranda]

Just a note about the new feature for automatically subscribing users to account calendars -- it appears that users stay subscribed to these calendars even if the classes they are taking in those programs/departments/subaccounts have been concluded. For students who are, say Art History majors, that get auto-subscribed to a calendar in the Math department because they are taking a class in that discipline, they'll continue to be subscribed. They could disable it themselves, but because the calendar was added by an admin, they'll still be subscribed to it.

[AllisonHowell]

Thanks for pointing this out. We will look into how we might be able to solve this. 

[jbono]

@HeatherAhern, the new inbox experience is supposed to improve functionality, but fails do to this by taking away other functionality.

The new compose message box is very small and immovable in the browser window, so now if you want to compose a longer message you have to compose it outside of Canvas, and then copy and paste it in the box. In the old UI, you could resize the width and height of the box, and even shift it around the browser window.

This is really disappointing.

[jbono]

@HeatherAhern, It also looks like counts were removed from the UI as well. It used to say something long the lines of People: XX with the number of people in a specific group. This is also gone and was helpful in making sure you were sending the message to the correct population with the right number of people.

[audra_agnelly]

@HeatherAhern Account calendar events do not show up in the Parent Mobile app. I do see these calendar events from Observer accounts in web-view and I see account events in the Student Mobile App. In K-12, school-to-family communication is essential and many parents rely on the mobile app exclusively for and easy-to-follow updates about their children. It's vital that parents see the same communications whether they are using the website or the app. 

[jozsefdavid]

Hi @audra_agnelly ,

Thank you for your insights. The parent app uses different technological approach than the Student or Teacher app, hence the difference. I have put this request on the mobile user request's list and we will prioritise it, but I cannot say anything closer at the moment.  

[ProfessorBeyrer]

For the Inbox, I notice that there is no change in the UI when I select an attachment. I don't know that an attachment has been added until I send the message. Please add some kind of indicator that a message has attachments (ideally a list) so that I know whether I have already attached a file.

Thank you.