Hanging indents

[cmtreibits0138]

I am doing a discussion forum, and I need to use hanging indents but I can't figure it out.

[Stef_retired]

 @cmtreibits0138 , the Canvas Rich Content Editor doesn't have any tools that will allow you to create hanging indents automatically. If you want to format a hanging indent, you'll need to switch to the HTML Editor to customize the code. Instructions are here: https://community.canvaslms.com/message/2753?sr=search&searchId=47525830-d3b6-4ddf-b6f3-068c38301d90...‌

[James]

 @cmtreibits0138 ,

This isn't for an APA-style reference is it?

There have been a couple of discussions here in the Canvas Community about hanging indents.  You might want to read them and then check with the instructor to see if they really want you to do the hanging indents. I expect that most instructors are just asking for APA style (my syllabi say that) and haven't actually tried to do the formatting themselves in Canvas or haven't clearly conveyed that it's okay to fudge a little. They probably don't know that Canvas doesn't support hanging indents. You'll need to talk that over with the instructor to make sure, but being armed with the information ahead of time can help.

• https://community.canvaslms.com/ideas/6235 
• https://community.canvaslms.com/ideas/8684 (this was just a couple of weeks ago and although it says disable hyperlinks, it was essentially about requiring APA style and turned into another summary of the issues associated with trying to do that)

Ultimately, you need to do what your instructor asks, but make sure both of you are clear on the expectations.

[tross]

If you absolutely have to have it in that style, I would format it in Word or whatever word processor you use and then take a screen shot and post that in the discussion.

[James]

tross‌,

I sometimes have trouble telling when people are being serious and when they're joking. I want to think you're joking as it's harder to get images into discussions (other than as attachments) than it is to get a hanging indent and then it not as accessible and you've lost the ability to click on the hyperlink (if present). The student who asked about that may not know enough about the short-comings to pick up on that.

On the other side, it would convey the difficulty of the situation to the instructor, and you may be wanting to send the message that if you're going to ask me to do asinine things like have a hanging indent, I'm going to do equally silly things like include a screenshot.

[kona · Accepted solution]

Same premise, but the student could also just type the discussion response in word, format it correctly, and attach the document to the discussion post. Yet, I doubt that's what the Instfuctor wants. My guess is that the Instructor hasn't tried to do a hanging indent themself in Canvas. So overall this really needs brought to the Instructors attention. 

[normanwolf]

A very good opinion. I really noticed it after reading your post.

Elastic man

[Robbie_Grant]

 @cmtreibits0138 ,

Were you able to find an answer to your question? I am going to go ahead and mark this question as answered because there hasn't been any more activity in a while so I assume that you have the information that you need. If you still have a question about this or if you have information that you would like to share with the community, by all means, please do come back and leave a comment.  Also, if this question has been answered by one of the previous replies, please feel free to mark that answer as correct.

Robbie

[ylee209]

I really don't like Canvas for the Discussion part. Blackboard is more favorable. I try to copy and paste the right format but Canvas discussion portion does its thing automatically. I have been wasting a lot of time on that. Hopefully the instructor doesn't deduct the point of it.

[felicia112]

All bullets, numbered lists, indentations, line spacing, centered text, and font formatting and sizing will be removed. Remove text formatting. Or, before you add...

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