Downloading Documents Automatically from Links

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In the new RCE, when you embed a document on the page and disable "auto inline preview", by default it opens in another tab for preview. The behavior of document links like this used to automatically download to the machine in the previous version of the RCE. There is no option for making this an auto-download which would be helpful in certain design instances. Opening a new tab each time to view a document can make the process unnecessarily confusing/arduous for users who now have to manage multiple tabs when they would prefer to just view the document directly.

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Stef_retired
Instructure Alumni
Instructure Alumni
Status changed to: Open
 
abaylis2
Community Member

With the new Canvas editor upgrade, the ability to instantly download files as a user has been removed. Prior to the upgrade, if a file was linked on a page, selecting the file would result in an instant download of the file to the user's computer.

With the upgraded editor, now when a file is linked on a page, selecting the file results in the file opening in Canvas on the Files page, which can then be downloaded. This resulting extra step to download a file from a user's perspective is not ideal.

My role is a Course Designer and I think functionality should be preserved rather taken away with upgrades. Especially given the extra steps now added to complete a simple download.

Stef_retired
Instructure Alumni
Instructure Alumni
Status changed to: Archived
 
Stef_retired
Instructure Alumni
Instructure Alumni

Thanks to everyone who has contributed to this conversation. We have received several reports recently of this, so we reached out to our support team and learned that this is a known issue. As such, we've archived this idea as it is now in the hands of engineering. If you'd like to receive updates on the status toward resolution, please initiate a support case and ask that it be attached to the engineering ticket LS-1743.

Stef_retired
Instructure Alumni
Instructure Alumni

Update: Our wonderful Erin Hallmark has just written this up as a Current Issues doc: Document links embedded using the new RCE don't do... - Canvas Community  Please make sure to initiate support tickets so they can be attached to the engineering ticket; that way, you'll receive status updates.

hallmans
Community Contributor

One additional thing we have discovered is that opening Powerpoint files in the new tab strips out all the animations and videos. Our faculty are not happy that they created reveals that now don't reveal.

Students aren't downloading the files, only seeing them in the preview window with no idea that they aren't getting the whole experience that the teacher intended.

denniscrystal
Community Member

Noticing that the current issues doc related to this issue is almost a month old.  Does that mean that Canvas Engineers are working on a fix to restore the auto-download functionality or has this issue just stalled?  Thanks!!

Stef_retired
Instructure Alumni
Instructure Alumni

Thanks for your patience, everyone. Please refer to the Rich Content Editor | File Uploads section of the Canvas Deploy Notes (2021-02-17) - Canvas Community for an update.

hubblebot
Community Member

Hi, I'm not sure if this deserves its own post, but since it's adjacent to this topic I'm going to put it here:

When I'm looking at files on the web, I prefer to open them in my browser's native file viewer. I find it's less clunky and loads faster than Canvas' file viewer. Currently opening a file link in a new tab causes it to auto-download to my computer, which is frustrating. I'd really prefer if Canvas just sent me the resource normally (example).