'Mark As Read' Discussion Post for Email Notification

TYLERFULLER

Hello, I think it would be helpful for there to be a "Mark As Read" button on the Canvas Notifications email when there is a discussion post. I usually read all of the posts there and then later see in Canvas that I have multiple unread posts only to find that I really have read them all and I need to go and "read" them. I think just something at the bottom of the email saying "Mark as Read". This would go for course Announcements too because it's the same story there. This would be a helpful implementation. Thanks!

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Chris

Hi @TYLERFULLER,

Before I write a few personal opinions about this idea, I did want to let you know that for this to be considered by Instructure, you'll have to submit it as an idea in that area of the community, not here in the question area.  Feel free to do that when you have a chance if you'd like.

With that said, while I totally understand where you're coming from with this idea, there may be a few things that could make it difficult from the tech side.  As a Canvas admin myself, I can highlight a couple that pop up in my head:

First is that what you see in your email notification is really somewhat of a preview of the announcement/discussion post, and not guaranteed to be the full announcement (especially for long announcements or ones that include graphics, videos, or other attachments).  If you're only reading the content through your email, there are definitely things you could miss, and clicking "mark as read" could be somewhat of a false indicator that you actually saw everything.

Second is authentication into Canvas...  When you're reading content in an email, you may not be logged in to Canvas at all on that device.  Clicking a link would have to take you through an entire login flow, which you'd have to do to read the message in Canvas anyways but may not be a smooth workflow for some users.  This may not be a huge issue, but it is one that has come up in posts before, so I wanted to put the comment here.

I hope this info helps you a bit!

-Chris