Community

This is particularly frustrating now that I'm knee deep in updating my classes for the fall. I don't know who this update was for, but this is one of the worst decisions regarding the Dashboard yet. Please revert it back to let ME choose where my courses are displayed. Why the heck did anyone think removing sorting preferences from users was a good idea? Absurd. ... View more

This isn't a matter of minor differences. Look at the image capture I provided. This is the matter of a complete re-rendering, font and line-spacing shifts, and the choices seem arbitrary. The functionality has regressed from what it used to be. It was once useful. Now it is not. DocViewer is clearly inferior to Crocodoc/Box, which experienced none of the issues now plaguing DocViewer. Canvas wants us to use their commenting functions (highlights, point annotations, block annotations) etc, but if I have to download the document anyway, then I'll just use Word's integrated Comment and Track Changes functions instead. I'd prefer not having to take the extra steps, but since Canvas has chosen to use an inferior product from what used to be a top-notch notation tool in Speedgrader/Crocodoc, it's my only real option. It's a shame, because I used to sing the praises of Crocodoc and its integration in Canvas, and try to get other faculty to use it. Now I can only apologize to them because the product has become functionally inferior to an older product. I was hoping this would be fixed by this semester since I'm teaching the research writing class which requires specific formatting concerns, but it's been 4 months since my initial post and no substantive progress, so I will likely not be using the DocViewer tool for paper grading at all this semester. ... View more

The problem with document formatting has come back. Sometime between last week and today Canvas has either reverted to a previous build or reintroduced its problems with a new build. All fonts in Word docs are being re-rendered into DejaVu. Serifs (Cambria, Times New Roman) are in DejaVu Serif, and sans (Arial, Calibri) are in DejaVu Sans. I'm not sure why DocViewer has been programmed to render fonts differently from the ones submitted, but it was either a bad decision or a bad omission. I can't submit a ticket, because my college has removed that functionality (and that's a completely unrelated issue that I disagree with Canvas on. If Canvas wants end users to submit official bug reports, then it shouldn't allow administrators to remove that functionality.). ... View more

Thank you Erin. I will follow up if I see any other problems. ... View more

Thank you. That's promising. ... View more

Well, that's less than helpful. And the bit about Crocodoc is a flat-out lie. It never changed the font or added extra spacing, or any of the other issues discussed here. The rendering deliberately changes formatting settings and this is the first time this has happened since our college adopted Canvas. It is specifically a problem with the implementation of DocViewer. If I could figure out how to submit a formal ticket, I would, but either I don't have the permissions to do so, or else I just can't find where inside Canvas they're listed. (EDIT: It appears my college has removed Report a Problem from the help links, so I can't submit an official ticket.) ... View more

That is part of the problem, I'm sure, but it doesn't address the font changes, or the fact that the system renders the document in a completely different fashion. I will still have to download all the papers individually to see if the formatting problems are things the students have done or if the renderer has made the errors. Again, this is a new problem, and I still don't quite understand why it was decided to arbitrarily change formatting from what was uploaded. ... View more