Accessing all the pages in a course at once when creating links to pages

[mark_teaford]

When you teach a large course (e.g., with >200 pages) and you want to create links to those pages on the Canvas calendar, you have to use the "pages" tab on the right side of the screen to find the links you want.  Unfortunately, as it's currently configured, Canvas only allows you to scroll through small chunks of pages with each click of the mouse.  It would be much easier if one click on the pages tab would give you instant access to all the pages.  Then you could scroll through all of them without wasting time stepping through 5, 10, 20 clicks to reach the page of interest.

[Stef_retired]

 @mark_teaford ‌

Thanks for sharing this idea. My test in a large course that has the New Rich Content Editor (RCE) enabled allowed me to scroll through at least 100 pages before I reached a "Load More" button at the bottom. Would you test this in a course that has RCE Enhancements enabled and let us know if that is your experience as well?

Thanks, Mark.

[mark_teaford]

Many thanks for the tip Stefanie. Unfortunately, we don’t have access yet to the RCE. However, I think I have access to a beta version that I can use to test the idea. It sure would be nice to avoid spending so

much time scrolling!

Sent from my iPhone

[Stef_retired]

 @mark_teaford ‌

Thanks. We'll keep this idea in Moderating status for now as we await the results of your beta testing.

[LFPark]

It would be great to have a filtering option where you could start typing the name of the page and it would filter down for ones you can choose from!

[Steven_S]

An alternative way to add these dates is by going directly to the pages tab, opening each page that needs a calendar shortcut, and adding a to-do date.  The to-do dates show up on the calendar automatically, and you do not have to search through an abbreviated list to find the page you want to insert into a calendar event

[Stef_retired]

@mark_teaford 

Following up: Have you had a chance to test this with the New RCE in your beta instance?

[mark_teaford]

Alas, I haven't.... Our semester began August 4th, and we've been inundated with transferring things online.  I'm hoping to have a chance once things calm down a little in the next couple weeks. 

[Stef_retired]

@mark_teaford 

Sounds good, and of course, understandable. 🙂We just wanted you to know that we haven't forgotten about this.

[mark_teaford]

MANY THANKS!

[Stef_retired]

@mark_teaford 

Here I am again, checking in. 🙂 Are you having an improved experience inserting page content using the new RCE?

[LFPark]

@Stef_retired I have been using the new RCE since the beginning of August and there is not an improved experience for inserting page content links. I visit 20 different elementary schools and having an easier way to link in pages/assignments/etc. when you have a lot in your course is the number one question I get when I speak with teachers. 

[Stef_retired]

@LFPark 

This conversation is about the number of pages that display when inserting a page through the new RCE compared to the old—and we appreciate your general feedback about the new RCE! We hope you will add it to the comments section of RCE Updates - Fall 2020 .

[Stef_retired]

@mark_teaford  Hi, Mark! Are you still running into the page load issue when inserting pages through the RCE?

[mark_teaford]

Many thanks for checking Stefanie.  Yes, we're still encountering the problem when trying to access pages within a large course with many many pages - i.e., we still can only scroll through a small portion of them at a time.

On another topic, is there any way, in using the inbox to send multiple successive emails to students, to stay in the same course (instead of having to re-designate the same course for each email)?

[Stef_retired]

@mark_teaford  We're going to do some checking on your instance specifically. 

Turning to your question, when I select a course in the Inbox and send a message to a student in that course, the course I selected remains in place after I click Send. I don't have to re-designate the same course for the next message.

[mark_teaford]

Many thanks for continuing to respond Stefanie.

Concerning selecting a course for multiple successive emails, perhaps I have a different version of Canvas?  After I click on the course and student, enter a message, and send the message, I'm returned to the original blank slate - where I have to choose the course again. 

With best wishes,

Mark

[Stef_retired]

@mark_teaford  There aren't different versions of Canvas per se, so I can't explain why your inbox dropdown is functioning differently. I'm hopeful that when we check on your instance we find something that accounts for these differences.

[mark_teaford]

Many thanks for your prompt reply!  That's very interesting.  I look forward to hearing what you find out about our setup.

With best wishes,

Mark

[Stef_retired]

@mark_teaford  I've had a chance to look at your instance and can confirm that in a course with a large number of pages, the sidebar will load a set of pages and will then present a Load More button, most likely as a load-limiting strategy to conserve bandwidth. I note that the search field at the top will return results for all pages, even if they're not visible in the sidebar. Will that work for you? If not, we can (at long last!) move this idea forward as a request to have all pages load without regard to bandwidth conservation measures.

Thanks for your patience!

[mark_teaford]

Thanks again Stefanie.  Yes, the search does return results for all pages, but I still hit the bandwidth limit evidently, because I still need to keep "loading more" using the button at the bottom.