Auto Save in Rich Content Editor

[snugent]

This is badly needed. We have had several people lost content they were writing in discussion posts and it would be useful when creating pages as well. Even here in the community Jive has this feature and I love it. Canvas needs it too!!

This idea has been developed and deployed to Canvas

For more information, please read through Canvas Release Notes (2020-03-21) 

[anne_karakash]

So I see this conversation has been going on since 2015.  It is now 2018 and I found my way here today after my cat jumped on my keyboard and I lost a discussion board post.  There should have been a warning before it allowed me to "navigate away" with unsaved text in the box.  I'm no software engineer, but this doesn't seem like a difficult feature to enact.  After all, there is a warning when I look at an assignment and navigate away before submitting it - so you have the ability.  Any thoughts on when you will take action on this? 

Also, I just noticed that my message here was just auto-saved.  I can assure you, this content is not as important as the content that is being graded.  Come on, Canvas, you need to take care of this, please.

[timothy_maw]

This would be extremely helpful and it seems like it could be added. Our institution is in the process of implementing Bridge and when I saw it has an auto-save feature I was excited and then my next thought was "I really wish they could add this to Canvas." I hope this is truly on the radar but, it does seem like Instructure has learned some lessons from Canvas with Bridge.

[Boekenoogen]

I can see this update to be a big plus in developing content. 

[Renee_Carney]

This idea influenced the development of Quizzes.Next.

• Quizzes.Next is now available for all paid accounts.
• Quizzes.Next documentation will live in the Quizzes.Next User Group until July 14, 2018. On July 14, 2018, all of the documentation will be moved to the Canvas Guides in the Canvas Instructor Guide or Canvas Student Guide. 
• Quizzes.Next updates will be included in the Canvas Release Notes. This includes new features, updated features, and relevant fixed bugs. New and updated features will be deployed to Quizzes.Next near the same time as the Canvas release. Fixed bugs may be deployed at any time.

[cliff_cunningha]

Three related "ideas":
https://community.canvaslms.com/ideas/1300-auto-save-in-rich-content-editor

https://community.canvaslms.com/ideas/2169-warn-before-leaving-unsaved-item

https://community.canvaslms.com/ideas/3155-a-way-to-save-a-draft-for-text-entries

[joel_duffin]

This is something I think we could implement rather easily using Global Javascript. Would that meet people's needs?

[Renee_Carney]

The Radar idea stage has been removed from the Feature Idea Process.  You can read more about why in the blog post Adaptation: Feature Idea Process Changes.

This change will only impact the stage sort of this idea and will not change how it is voted on or how it is considered during prioritization activities.  This change will streamline the list of ideas 'open for voting', making it easier for you to see the true top voted ideas in one sort, here.

[whitney1]

This clearly needs more attention if it was scheduled for work in 2015-2016, and I lost significant work on a syllabus for Fall 2018 due to a login timeout without notice while working. Ultimately if Canvas wants to maintain its position, it needs to respect its users, in part by not wasting their time when it discards work they have done silently without any chance of recovery.

[sa198720]

Auto-save is truly needed. Here is why

1. Certain competing LMS systems have at least a button allowing students to save their post as a draft. Auto-save would provide an even better experience and justify the use of transitioning to Canvas from another LMS system.

2. Often students are directed to use "work-arounds" to write posts, e.g. write your post in a word document, copy the text, and paste it to the content editor. This seems counter intuitive if the goal of the LMS system is to have a user-experience entirely within the system. 

3. Running out of battery on a lap top/ power going out on a desk top, computer crashes, accidentally closing tabs, and log-in time outs are some of the reasons why an auto-save feature would be invaluable. These unexpected situations can really destroy all the time and effort spent on constructing a post. It really adds unnecessary stress, anxiety, and frustration when it can be solved with auto-save. I am not sure how easy it is to do from a technical perspective, but I imagine if Google can do it, so can Canvas. 

I would suggest that we all repost this in our class coffee shop to get more engagement from our peers. 

[abillotti0]

This is a huge problem, and could be easily implemented for discussion boards. I will have a discussion post completely typed or almost completely typed and I will hit backspace and instead of backspacing the letter or word I need to retype it will delete everything I just typed. There should be no reason that this can't be a feature, and I shouldn't have to constantly copy and paste what I am typing in my discussion board to a word document just to make sure it won't accidentally get deleted. Additionally, I would love if I am answering questions in the discussion board for a professor, if I want to answer one of the questions and say not all three, I can start doing so and save it and come back when I have the answers to the following questions not be forced to do it all at once or risk losing my answers.