A Simpler, More Accessible Canvas Files Experience Is Here

[KataKeri]

We’re excited to share that a redesigned Canvas Files page became available on July 19, bringing a more intuitive, accessible, and consistent experience to file management across Canvas.

Why the Change?

The previous Files pages used in both course and user Files presented challenges, especially in meeting accessibility (VPAT) standards. This redesign is part of our broader A11y initiative which focuses on building inclusive tools that meet the needs of all users. Built using front-end InstUI components, the new Files experience not only improves accessibility but also reflects a modern UI approach and time-saving benefits, aligned with the other changes you’ve seen roll out recently in Canvas LMS.
A switch back option will remain available through the end of 2025 to ensure a smooth transition.

What’s New?

The redesigned Files page introduces several updates aimed at simplifying navigation and enhancing usability:

• Enhanced File Management: Indication for sorting files via column headers, enhanced search with finding files, and easily bulk-edit files.
• Improved Accessibility: A cleaner, more inclusive interface that meets VPAT compliance requirements.
• Simplified Navigation: A formal landing page replaces the folder tree view, and pagination helps users manage large file sets.
• Refined Selection Behavior: Use checkboxes to select individual or all files, with bulk actions like Download, Delete, Move, and Edit.
• Updated Link Sharing: Preview links are no longer accessible outside the platform, helping safeguard content.
• Toggle Option: Prefer the classic view? A toggle in the interface lets users return to the old Files page through the end of 2025.

Updated files index page that highlights easier access to bulk select and manage files

What’s Going Away?

To align with modern standards and improve clarity, some features are being retired:

• The folder tree view is removed.
• The ‘View’ button is also removed, as it is not functional with bulk selection - previewing files are still an option, when clicking on them.
• Manage permissions and usage rights won’t be in the same modal - based on feedback from Beta we are aware that this is causing more clicks, so we will provide a solution for this soon.

Timeline

• Beta release:  Released in May 2025. Paused production release while we made a few adjustments. 
• Production release: July 19, 2025. The new experience is enabled by default for all users. No migration or onboarding is required. 

Supporting a Smooth Transition

We understand change takes time. That’s why a “View Old Files Page” option will remain available through the end of 2025, offering flexibility while users adjust. Selecting a view will be persistent across login sessions.  

Learn More

Need help navigating the new Files interface? Updated user guides are available to walk you through what’s new.

[LMacaulay]

Can you please add a column that shows where a file is in use in a course, much like there is for Rubrics?  As courses are copied from one term to another and files are updated, things quickly get messy in Files and there is no easy way to see if a file is still in use.  Because the file link within the module or assignment etc. doesn't reflect the actual NAME of the file in the link, it is also very difficult to back track from a file link within a course.

[sbj]

There seems to be a conflict with Ally. The column for "Accessibility" that has the Ally accessibility icon for each file is missing in the new design. Thankfully I can "Switch to Old Files Page" and see the icons there, but this kind of a big deal. I hope I'm not about to go down a rabbit hole of Instructure telling me its an Ally problem and Anthology telling me its a Canvas problem .... 

UPDATE

Ally Product Manager posted this in the Anthology Ally User Group:

We're Working on Some Ally Issues in the New Canvas Files Area
We’ve noticed some issues with Ally in the new Canvas Files interface where the Ally indicators are not appearing as expected.

The good news is that everything is still working as expected in the "Old Files Page" experience. We understand this can be frustrating, and we truly appreciate your patience. Our team is on it and working on the issue to ensure indicators appear in the new Files page as expected. 
We’ll share updates as soon as we have them!

[RobDitto]

Our standing faculty have requested that the Switch to Old Files Page button should remain available through May 2026.  I realize this is unlikely to happen, though we'll be advising the CSM working with our institution of this request. 

[CharlesMaddox]

The description of the new Files interface refers to it being time-saving.  I have 265 items in Files in one course. Rather than being time saving, it is slower because of the fewer number of items on each page and the time it takes to go from one page view to the next. In fact, using the previous interface, I could scroll through the entire list and view the items 9.57 times faster than with the newer interface (i.e., using the new set up is 9.57 times slower). For intensive users of Files, the loss of time and the frustration of waiting for each page to appear will only increase over time. At times of heavy internet traffic, the loss of time will be even greater.

Also, the larger font and the addition of lines dividing each item actually slows the time it takes for the eyes to process the information: the eyes have to cover more space to interpret the information, hence more time, and each line adds more detail to register causing a kind of mental skipping rather than smooth flow. 

I urge the programmers to allow the Old Files Page to be accessible into the future.

[RachelSalmon]

The new interface is a great improvement and really helpful. Something that would be helpful is to add the ability to resize the columns. I know a longer file name will show when hovering but if there are many longer file names, the ability to resize the columns and not need to hover would be helpful. 

[henricksen_6]

@KataKeri In the new view, not being able to see the entire title makes it frustratingly difficult to find things. The new view cuts off the titles of the file after a certain number of characters and I'm not seeing a clear way to see the entire title without clicking on the individual file or zooming out so far that the text is too tiny to read. Hovering over the file name doesn't do anything and I can't seem to expand the column.

Many of us use naming conventions that put the distinguishing characteristic at the end of the titles (i.e.; version, updated date, week #) which makes this view frustrating to find the difference between similar files. For example, one might create similar files with patterns like:

• Reading_Topic_week 1
• Reading_Topic_Week 2
• Reading_Topic_Week 2_version 3
• Reading_Topic_Week 5_updated 5.12.25

Here is a side by side comparison of the old and New views to show you what I mean. 

Can you tell me which one is the "week 3_updated 8_2024" version in the New view, because I can't? Not without doing extra work.

Can you look into adding expandable columns, the ability to see the entire title if the user hovers over the text and/or SOMETHING that allows us to tell which document is which a little easier in the new view? 

Thank you!

[ACook-RVCC]

I echo the concern that the Ally Accessibility column, visible in the Old Files view, is not shown in this New Files view. I also echo that it would be incredibly helpful to have an option (maybe from the Status column or Actions menu) to show where the image is being used in the course. Totally understand the need to make Files more intuitive and accessible. It would just be nice to have a bit more functionality too. Thanks!

[crafte]

We contacted Ally support. They have received multiple reports about the missing Ally icon on the new Files page and are working on a solution.

[dkpst5]

After testing, I'm with the others that this is mostly backwards. The older functionality is better. The older one loads faster, and loads more things at once (25 item pagination is unacceptable). And the multi-line file names is considerably better than the now-truncated one. I'm not really seeing any improvements except the checkboxes.

Rhetorical question: Why is modern web design all about removing features, making interactions worse and take longer, only to add more whitespace and call it "sleek and modern"?

[steve_rowbottom]

As others of have mentioned, the Ally/Accessibility column is essential to us, but it sounds like Anthology are working on a fix for this which is good to hear.

I would like to add my support to @henricksen_6 post as we use a similar file naming convetions and are facing the same issues so would like you add expandable columns, and the ability to see the entire title if the user hovers over the text and/or somethign that allows us to tell which document is which.

I would also echo @dkpst5 there should be an option to view all files or at least more than 25 items per page

[LakenyaWoolridg]

Thanks

[KataKeri]

Hello everyone,

Thank you for your honest feedback! We are looking into fixing these issues for you, I already forwarded the feedback to my team, and we will prioritise loading more items per page (or introduce a show all button), displaying the whole file name or introducing an option to resize the column.

We will also look into the performance of the page to ensure a better and faster experience for you. 

The Ally column is on Anthology's part, that is outside of our ownership, but as I'm seeing based on you comments, they are on it. 

I'll add as a feature request that you'd like to see where the file is being used - I see how it would be useful for you. 

Thank you for your patience, and please don't hesitate to provide further feedback if you have any. 

[clpatter]

What I think is confusing is the "All My Files" link at the top. I clicked that thinking it would show me all the files in the course. Instead, it took me out of the course to my Canvas user files.  

When you're in the RCE and want to add a document, your choices are "Course Document" or "User Document." I think renaming the button "User Files" would make it clear that the button will take you to your own user files.  It will also help later, when you add a "Show All" button.      

[Lsheehy7]

I think the "All My Files" link makes sense. I'm in multiple courses, so the first folder after clicking "All My Files" is "My Files" meaning my user files, and the other folders are for each course. Changing it to "User Files" might be more confusing especially for new users.

[joeferia]

@sbj Thank you for pointing out that Anthology Ally's accessibility scores no longer appear in Canvas' new file view. Note that the option for alternative formats is also not available. 

This issue is not limited to Ally. SensusAccess Canvas LTI alternative formats are also not available in the new files view. 

[laura-harste]

Another vote for Ally scores being back on the Files page.  We finally have faculty working on accessibility!  This is not just helpful, it is KEY!

[sms2]

So, here is a question: I am an ID with my instance, and I create the courses on Canvas for our teachers/trainers based on the content they are sharing.  So, for every course I have touched, the documents, images, etc., are all under "My Files".  My concern is if I go in and delete those files in the "My Files" folder, will they stay in the course file they are associated with, or will they also be deleted?  I ask because it says I currently have 39.8 MB of the 50 MB used, and I can load one or more courses a month based on development. 

Our instance is used more for Professional Development, so I am extensively touching the courses, whether loading new courses or adding updated documents and information.  

Thanks!

[saustin]

Thank you so much for your work on this, Canvas team. 

However, I do feel this is a step backwards.  Part of troubleshooting is understanding "where" files go after they are uploaded, and by removing folder structure, a significant workload is added because context is lost.   For example, when you know that a student has uploaded media into an assignment, you can go to the Uploads folder, and know that you are attaching the actions of the student to the the folder -- it narrows your search down immediately.  Once that folder structure is removed, the context is lost; and to me, that loss is significant.

In terms of sheer handling, when the folder structure is removed, it becomes a case of endless scrolling, or running multiple iterations of spelling in the search bar to find the right file.  It's a lot slower to find files this way.

Finally, with Ally, I worry not about only the Old file structure showing the gauge,  but of possible follow-on impacts.  I could be wrong, but I believe there may be a "flow" of information that goes from the files section to the page upon which the file is embedded, or uploaded.  Put another way, I think more than just gauge visibility in the Files section may be impacted.  It's good to know that Ally is on it (as they always are).

Thanks for all you do, and thanks for listening.

--Sharon

[stimme]

@KataKeri The sortable columns are very cool. I would like to suggest making the columns resizable. Right now, the Name column has insufficient width for me to see entire filenames. I can only see the end of the files if I Zoom out so much that it's hard to read them.

[saustin]

Good morning Canvas support,

As I continue to follow this update from Canvas, I realized I forgot to ask, "what" exactly is "more" accessible in this version of the Files page?

All to say, I hope this is not being viewed as an either-or situation, but rather, to incorporate any accessibility improvements with the folder structure, keeping BOTH the folder structure, which I personally consider part of making an interface accessible for cognition (The POUR Principle) AND whatever accessibility enhancements are enabled through the new architecture.  

Thank you for listening.

[stephentomasovi]

I like the changes. The interface is much more intuitive!

For the good of the order, I wanted to point out a minor visibility issue.  It is with respect to the "Edit Permissions" and "Move To..." menu when I utilize in Chrome & Firefox. I don't know if it's something unique to my device,  something which can be adjusted by Canvas, or if it's something unique to Chrome & Firefox.

The menu window is slightly cut-off.  No matter how far I stretch the browser window it is slightly still cut off.

This glitch does not occur with Edge (at least on my Windows device).

[joeferia]

@sbj Anthology Ally's accessibility scores are now displayed in both the New and Old Canvas Files views, and Ally's alternative format cans can also be selected from the Actions column in the New files view.

[DavidSchlater]

Something that could be improved in New Files view is the ability to adjust column widths. Not being able to see the end of the file name to know what type of file it is, at a glance, is not helpful. I see now this was mentioned above....any plans to fix?

[fpaiano]

Is there any reason why we are limited to only displaying 25 files per page? Seems arbitrary as if you are becoming more and more like Blackboard. "We don't care. We don't have to.".  

[emc2]

I appreciate the design of the new files page and the effort to make it look less busy. However, I'm concerned that the ability to expand folders is no longer there to easily and quickly see the content. Without being able to expand file folders within the same page, it makes it that much more frustrating for both instructors and support staff to quickly find files. Now we have to click on each folder to take us to the content and if it's not there, click back out and try another one? That seems like a wildly inefficient workflow.

[John90]

Sorry, but this design update feels like a step backwards to me. I am not sure to what extent this is the right place to be posting this feedback, and I don't mean to sound offensive, since I know there are always competing priorities and you're just doing your job.

But, I do have the feeling that "modern UI" is just a synonym for "looks simpler and it's easier to use for novice computer users". The problem as I see it is that "looks simpler" doesn't actually mean "better" and sometimes can make things things harder to work with (i.e., it's not *actually* simpler). When you have files to manage, you want more visibility, not less. I was surprised today that my "folder tree" disappeared. My initial response: Not having the folder tree is a wrong design move. There is a reason why real work is done on desktops and laptops and not on ipads and smart phones, and why Microsoft Windows still is used more than Macs in the workplace: slick UI may look nice, but if you have work to do, and you're good at your job, then you want to leverage rich feature-full user interfaces that make your job easier, not UI's that are more limited and more streamlined. 

Just my two cents. Cheers!!