How to: Embed a document in Canvas with file preview enabled

What is the file preview?

In Canvas you can embed a document (.docx, .pdf, .pptx, etc.) in the page so the document appears within a frame as a file preview. It looks like this:

How do I do this?

You can choose a file you’ve already uploaded to Canvas, or you can upload one in the same process.

Select the page or function in Canvas where you want the file to appear.
Click Edit.
Place the cursor where you want the file to appear.
In the file selector, click the Files tab
If you:
- Already uploaded the file, select it from the list. If not, scroll to the bottom of the list and click + Upload a new file.
- Are uploading a new file, scroll to the bottom of the list and click + Upload a new file. Select the file from your computer, select the folder you wish to save it to in the Canvas files section, and click Upload.
The filename will appear as a blue link in your page where the cursor was.
To enable the file preview on this page, put the cursor somewhere inside the link name.
Click the link icon in the Rich content editor.
Select the Auto-open the inline preview for this link checkbox and click Update link.
Click Save

For further information:

DLDSC Resource: How to: Structure your content in Canvas
Canvas Doc: What types of documents can be previewed in Canvas?
Canvas Doc: How do I upload a PDF to a page in a course?
Canvas Doc: How do I create a file link in a page in a course?
DLDSC Resource: How to: Embed other content in Canvas – Google Slides Youtube Wikipedia

Clicking the Minimise preview link above the embedded file will remove the preview.

Clicking the Preview the document icon will open the File preview window again.

It’s great to be able to provide a preview of the file in the page, but think carefully about how many you want on any one page. If you have several embedded files your page will become very long and require a lot of scrolling. Consider splitting content into a number of pages if you have multiple files you want to embed as a preview.

FAQs

Portrait images in Canvas

When you upload Portrait images to Canvas, are they presenting as Landscape?

The problem may be the EXIF (Exchangeable image file format) data within your file. This is a standard for storing information in image files. It controls information about the image in the image file itself, like how an image is supposed to be rotated.

Most new iPhones or Android cameras observe the EXIF standard but older digital cameras and phones may not. If an image does not have the EXIF data and is opened in a web document, It may not display as intended.

There is an easy solution to resolve this issue.

Before uploading your image to Canvas, open it in Photoshop or your standard image preview software on your computer. These programs will add the EXIF data to the file automatically so you will not have to rotate the image yourself. Save the file from this program to your desktop. When you upload the file to Canvas, it should now present as a portrait image.

How do I adjust a table width in the Syllabus page?

Go to the page that contains the table you wish to adjust.

Click Edit
Click once on the table border to select it

(click for a larger view)
Click the table icon in the menu bar

(click for a larger view)
Select Table Properties
In the Width field remove any numbers and replace with 100% (including the percentage sign)
In the Height field remove any numbers and leave blank

(click for a larger view)
Click OK
Click Update Syllabus

What is the difference between modules and pages?

Modules and Pages are two different things. A module is an organising structure that allows you to control the flow of your course content, while a Page is the basic tool you use to present the content in your course. One or more pages can be arranged into a module, along with other tools, to create sequenced content. For more information, visit How to: Create and Manage Modules in Canvas.