How do I embed documents from Canvas in the Rich Content Editor as an instructor?

[#1]

You can use the Rich Content Editor to insert hyperlinks to document files stored in your course, user, and group files.

By default, embedded document links display an icon that allows users to preview the document in the Rich Content Editor. You can disable the in-line preview or open the in-line preview automatically.

Notes: If you set a file as not visible to students in Course Files and link to that file in the Rich Content Editor, students will be able to view that file using the link in the Rich Content Editor.

Open Rich Content Editor

Open the Rich Content Editor when creating or editing an announcement, assignment, discussion, page, quiz, or syllabus.

Note: The Rich Content Editor supports keyboard shortcuts. To view the Keyboard Shortcuts menu, click the Keyboard icon or press ALT+F8 (PC keyboard) or ALT+FN+F8 (Mac keyboard).

Select Link Location

To insert a link displaying the name of the file, click to place your cursor in the location in the Rich Content Editor where you want the link to appear [1].

To insert a hyperlink to a course content item, select the text for your hyperlink [2].

Open Documents

In the toolbar, click the Document Options arrow [1]. To view the Documents icon, you may have to click the Options icon [2].  

To view course documents, click the Course Documents option [3]. To view your user documents, click the User Documents option [4].

If you open the Rich Content Editor from a group, you can view uploaded group documents by clicking the Group Documents option [5].

View and Sort Files

By default, the Add menu displays all files in your selected file source [1].

To sort the displayed files by image, document, or media file type, click the Type drop-down menu [2].

To sort the displayed files by date added or alphabetically, click the Sort by drop-down menu [3].

To search for a document, enter the file name in the Search field [4]. You must enter at least three characters for search results to display.

Select File

Click the name of the file you want to link in the Rich Content Editor.

Note: The text will flash before turning into the hyperlink.

View Link

View the link displaying the name of the file [1] or the hyperlinked text [2].

To manage options for the link, click the link title [3] and click the Link Options link [4].

View Link Options

You can edit the link text in the Text field [1] or link URL in the Link field [2].

You can choose to display a file preview in a pop-up window or in-line preview when the link is clicked. You can also choose to expand an in-line preview by default.

To allow users to view a file preview in a pop-up window when the link is clicked, select the Preview in overlay option [3].

To allow users to view an in-line preview when the link is clicked, click the Preview inline option [4]. To expand the in-line preview by default, click the Expand preview by Default checkbox [5].  

To save link options, click the Done button [6].

Notes:

• Inline preview is not supported in the Canvas beta environment.
• Inline preview is not supported in Edit mode.

Save Changes

Click the Save button.

Notes:

• The assignment, discussion, pages, and quizzes details pages display a Save & Publish button.
• The Syllabus page displays an Update Syllabus button.
• Discussion replies display a Post Reply button.

View Content

View the content.  

To preview the file, click the file link [1]. Links to external URLs display an Open icon [2].

To download the linked file, click the Download icon [3].