[ARCHIVED] Uploaded images no longer function in Safari

[cwoodruf]

Uploading and embedding images in Canvas during last academic term worked fine...

[Addendum: Following suggestion from browser guide, I tried using in a Safari "private window." That workaround revealed the images. I've cleared cache and history, and the problem in a normal window remains.]

Now, the images I had uploaded into the course images folder no longer appear--in the desktop Safari environment (ver. 13.1). They are working on the Canvas iPhone app and in desktop Firefox (ver. 74) browser. This is true for courses successfully run last term AND courses I'm creating for the term that starts next week.

I have cleared desktop Safari's history and cache. Here's what I'm seeing"

• Course home page banner:

• Embed images window showing the icon. Note the images that came in with the template import are fine. They also embed just fine if I choose to use those instead. It's just the images I uploaded into the Canvas course that are unavailable--though they USED to be.

• And here's what it looks like when I go to the Files course images folder. The two images with blank thumbnails are images I uploaded. Again, this is true for course I created last quarter AND for this coming quarter.

Any guidance on this will be helpful as I create content and assessment for music that are image intensive!

[Stef_retired · Accepted solution]

Thanks to everyone who has commented here thus far. If you haven't already, would each of you please submit tickets to Canvas Support? How do I get help with Canvas as an instructor?‌ provides general instructions, but if your school has provided its own pathway to support, please used that to initiate the case. Having as many cases as possible to inspect will make it easier for our support team to investigate and address this.

[seddonc · Accepted solution]

Hello All,

I have the same issue. I have figured out a workaround:

Disable "Prevent cross-site tracking" in Safari preferences.

I believe the issues is that uploaded images in Canvas are technically posted on a different site (and have very long complex urls). I think this is being interpreted by Safari as "cross-site" tracking. I will submit a ticket with this information.

[betsy_jones]

Same question for me. Images in Safari no longer show. They work fine in other browsers.

[gulick_24]

Hi @betsy_jones try these steps (they worked for me):

Apple has recently updated one of the privacy controls in Safari, which is causing problems with image display in Canvas. If you are using the Safari browser to access Carmen, whether on a Mac or on an iPad/iPhone, you need to check your preferences to ensure that the images will be properly displayed.

On Mac

1. Open Safari
2. Go to the Safari menu and select "Preferences…"
3. Click into the Privacy tab
4. Uncheck "Prevent cross-site tracking"
5. Close the Preferences window and continue normally

On iOS:

1. Open the Settings app
2. Scroll down the list of headings on the left and choose Safari
3. Uncheck "Prevent Cross-Site Tracking" (under Privacy & Security)
4. You can now use Safari normally

[watsonnk]

Confirming that this does not work, as others have pointed out.

Only solution I've found, other than using a different browser (not really a solution, but short- (now medium-) term way to sidestep the problem) is to upload the images again to the course in question, which does make images viewable.

[SushmaAlphonsa]

This did not work for me.

[dmello2]

Yep, same issue with me. No images in Safari (even cleared cache and history), but they show in Chrome.

[gulick_24]

Hi @dmello2 Try these steps, they worked for me:

Apple has recently updated one of the privacy controls in Safari, which is causing problems with image display in Canvas. If you are using the Safari browser to access Carmen, whether on a Mac or on an iPad/iPhone, you need to check your preferences to ensure that the images will be properly displayed.

On Mac

1. Open Safari
2. Go to the Safari menu and select "Preferences…"
3. Click into the Privacy tab
4. Uncheck "Prevent cross-site tracking"
5. Close the Preferences window and continue normally

On iOS:

1. Open the Settings app
2. Scroll down the list of headings on the left and choose Safari
3. Uncheck "Prevent Cross-Site Tracking" (under Privacy & Security)
4. You can now use Safari normally

[RNurse2020_]

Hello, I'm having this issue and I have seen the solution where we have to uncheck the "Prevent cross-site tracking" box. I have done that and cleared cache and cookies. I have restarted my browser and laptop as well. But this solution still didn't work for me. Any ideas? I contacted Canvas Support and waited for 2.5 hrs and the only solution they gave me was to download "Chrome".

[atomicwebs]

This solution does not for for me or many other users.

[Stef_retired · Accepted solution]

Thanks to everyone who has commented here thus far. If you haven't already, would each of you please submit tickets to Canvas Support? How do I get help with Canvas as an instructor?‌ provides general instructions, but if your school has provided its own pathway to support, please used that to initiate the case. Having as many cases as possible to inspect will make it easier for our support team to investigate and address this.

[seddonc · Accepted solution]

Hello All,

I have the same issue. I have figured out a workaround:

Disable "Prevent cross-site tracking" in Safari preferences.

I believe the issues is that uploaded images in Canvas are technically posted on a different site (and have very long complex urls). I think this is being interpreted by Safari as "cross-site" tracking. I will submit a ticket with this information.

[Stef_retired]

Thanks,  @seddonc ‌! That extra evidence will be very helpful to our support team.

[jackley]

We had a student who couldn't see images in her quiz questions and she was using Safari.  I provided her with this answer and it worked.  Thanks for sharing. 

Jamie Ackley

[jenn_leimer · Accepted solution]

Has there been any progress made towards a solution on this issue?  I submitted a ticket a month ago and never heard a word.  Trying to get students to use a "work around" is not really a solution.  

[Stef_retired]

 @jenn_leimer ‌, please request updates through the ticket you initiated.

[gulick_24]

@jenn_leimerI know this isn't a true fix because it's a workaround, but this worked for me (now just to get my 1,600 freshmen to do it on all their devices...)

Apple has recently updated one of the privacy controls in Safari, which is causing problems with image display in Canvas. If you are using the Safari browser to access Carmen, whether on a Mac or on an iPad/iPhone, you need to check your preferences to ensure that the images will be properly displayed.

On Mac

1. Open Safari
2. Go to the Safari menu and select "Preferences…"
3. Click into the Privacy tab
4. Uncheck "Prevent cross-site tracking"
5. Close the Preferences window and continue normally

On iOS:

1. Open the Settings app
2. Scroll down the list of headings on the left and choose Safari
3. Uncheck "Prevent Cross-Site Tracking" (under Privacy & Security)
4. You can now use Safari normally

[dmello2]

Thank you!

[gulick_24]

Here's how to do it on iOS (for iPads/iPhones):

On iOS:

1. Open the Settings app
2. Scroll down the list of headings on the left and choose Safari
3. Uncheck "Prevent Cross-Site Tracking" (under Privacy & Security)
4. You can now use Safari normally

[farnwomt]

This supposed fix relating to cross site doesn't work for me, I still have exactly the same problem after changing the preferences in Safari.

[tchilt]

We've had a problem not just with viewing images, but when users post images using Safari. When they post using Safari, the image links are broken and cannot be viewed with any browser. I have a ticket I'm escalating.

[jason_jasper]

I'm running into the same problem.  I was trying to add more icons to aid in navigation on my page for students during the COVID-19 quarantine, but not having Safari support is a deal breaker, since it's what generally works best on my student's iPads.

[dfdriscoll]

Hi, I too am experiencing this problem. Canvas Support told me 'Please disable the "Prevent cross-site tracking" in Safari preferences' and did not acknowledge my response. Am I right in thinking that Canvas has no plans to fix this issue?

[csato]

In early April, Apple released Safari updates that included a major update to a feature called Intelligent Tracking Protection (ITP). This feature implements new limitations to resources like files that are loaded on pages from a third-party site, and it behaves differently than similar systems implemented in other browsers like Chrome and Firefox.

This update affected the mechanism that Canvas uses to securely host and transmit uploaded files, including images. Users may experience files that fail to download, or images that fail to display. This behavior is due to redirection in the authentication implementation of Canvas’ secure file system, which Safari detects as a “third-party” site because it resides on a different domain.

Our engineering teams are actively investigating solutions to this issue, but a timeline is not yet available.

In the meantime, there are two workarounds:

• For users who have access to another browser like Chrome, Firefox, or Edge, those browsers do not experience this issue. Using one of these alternative browsers is the recommended solution.

• For users who only have access to Safari, temporarily disabling the “Prevent cross-site tracking” option in the browser privacy settings will restore Canvas functionality. Users may wish to only disable this option temporarily while using Canvas, and then re-enable it before using other sites. More information on this setting is available here: https://support.apple.com/guide/safari/prevent-cross-site-tracking-sfri40732/mac

[craint]

May 11, are the Canvas engineers any closer to finding a solution for this problem?  

[Linkletter]

May 20th... this affects millions of users. Great.

[csato]

UPDATE: In late July, our engineering team released a bug fix to resolve issues that stemmed from Safari's update. All support tickets associated with this issue have been notified of the bug fix and have been closed. 

Please reach out to our support team and open a ticket if you are experiencing other issues with Safari. 

Thanks!

[rgibson1]

When will this bug fix be available? We're seeing the same problem.

[JHobson1]

The issue is not resolved. I have spent a long time on this issue today, and my class starts tomorrow. Can you help?

[csato]

Thanks for your comment, I've worked with our support team and this issues that you are experiencing are being worked on be our Canvas engineers. A timeline for this bug fix is not available at this time. For the best user-experience, I suggest using either Chrome or Firefox. We apologize for the inconvenience this continues to have. 

[csato]

Update (8/17): The bug fix deployed to Canvas production resolved the majority of issues for images not displaying in Safari. In some cases, images are still not appearing in Canvas and our Canvas engineers are aware of these cases and are working on a solution. gulick_24, (thank you for sharing) in this thread, has provided solutions for this issue as a work-around until a bug fix is deployed into production. Additionally, if these work-around solutions do not solve the experience, we recommend using Chrome or Firefox browsers. Images are being displayed in those browsers.

[gulick_24]

@csatoThank you for your quick and candid reply; that's helpful to know the current status and those two workarounds for now so at least we know what to tell students who encounter the issue.

[uwe_zimmermann]

I hope that this topic has higher priority at Instructure than the development of confetti animations - but for some reason I doubt it...

[faith]

I wonder if Instructure has any staff that are in touch with the companies or developer communities for the various web browsers.  When I worked for Apple, we had a developer program where we would notify our developers months ahead of any release, would detail the exact changes to the various software components (including the Safari Web Browser), and release beta software to test against.

By the reactive instead of proactive response from Instructure, my initial guess is that for a company who completely relies on the functionality of web browsers for the success of their products, there is nobody in the INST engineering group that is liaising with Apple, Google, Mozilla, or Microsoft.

I would love to be wrong about this assumption.

[may027]

Is this related to the issue with embedded images not appearing in a Canvas quiz question? Would the recommendation for the cross-site tracking preference in Safari also address the issue with quizzes? I am guessing not given that the issue with quiz images appears to be longstanding and predates this latest Safari update.

[uwe_zimmermann]

At least in my case it was discovered first in the case of quiz-questions - so the answer is probably yes.

But it seems that we have completely lost Instructure on this point and I don't know if we can expect any reaction from their side right now. Implementing confetti seems to be much more exciting than solving problems.

[Linkletter]

I can't emphasize enough how much ongoing communication with us regarding this issue is necessary. Safari users can't see images. When they upload images, nobody else can see them. Instructure should display a message to Safari users about the necessary workaround.

[may027]

I have now encountered another, related issue: apparently the "insert math equation" tool in the quiz rich content editor creates an image, either in the question or in the answer. I had a number of students report that they had problems seeing those images. One student sent a screen shot and it looks something like "$$" followed by a fragment of the original entry. I haven't had time to track this down in terms of browsers but the specific questions render fine in Safari (13.0.5) for me with "prevent cross-site tracking" checked. I am going to recommend that students use something other than Safari although I have had reports of issues with Chrome as well.

[may027]

Replying to myself...

It is certainly not getting better. I tried setting up a "new quiz" rather than a classic quiz (I don't know if that matters) and created a numeric question. I pasted in two images from Word (created with the equation editor in Word). The images were small in the Canvas question editor but I was able to resize them. However as soon as I clicked "done" on the problem, the images disappeared. I could select an outline (selection box) for each image when I tried to edit the problem again but there was nothing visible. This is independent of the "cross-site tracking" setting in Safari 13.0.5.

I just don't think Canvas is reliable in this regard. Going forward (next quarter) I will probably use Gradescope.

[uwe_zimmermann]

While I personally don't think that the "new quiz" currently is anything more than a beta-version I wonder one thing: why are you pasting equations from Word (sic!) into Canvas?

[may027]

Well, it is much easier to use a full-fledged word processor like Word to type out a question plus, and more important for me, is that I have a local copy of the exam/quiz that I can print out if necessary. Plus, the equation editor is superior although I guess I have found that to be moot.