Image caption issues

Hi All. I have been retroactively assigning captions to my images in Canvas and I noticed something strange. I have been adding the image captions within Canvas pages by clicking on “image options” and entering the information, saving the page. However, when looking at the “Files” view of the site, the captions are not there. I have attached an image example. Is anyone else having this issue? How do I make them 'synch'?

Screenshot 2025-11-11 120342.png

Find more posts tagged with

All Users

Accepted answers

Chris

Hi @slcooper,

I think you're adding the alt text to an image on a specific page (or other place) through the Canvas rich content editor, is that correct? If so, as far as I know that alt text will just apply to the place you set the alt text, it's not attached to the image file. It's possible that the same image would need different alt-text if used in different places, as alt-text should be contextual. The way alt-text works in HTML is that it does become part of page code, so Canvas would have to do a lot of extra work to have some sort of "universal" alt text for each image, remembering where that image is being used and changing it in all those places any time it's changed in a single place. It would be nice in some cases, but it wouldn't be a simple thing to implement.

-Chris

All comments

bwsf

It is so frustrating to lose work!

You didn't mention clicking "Done" at the bottom of the Image Options pane. I usually have to scroll down to see it, and not clicking "Done" would lead to the outcome you're seeing.

If you don't have to change other image attributes at the same time, it might be easier to use that page's Canvas Accessibility Checker to add the alt text. As it reviews errors it will take you to each image without alt text or with file names as alt text. However, it won't show you images that have bad or insufficient alt text (e.g. "Uploaded media" or "Moustache").

Accessibility Checker pane listing Issue: Image filenames should not be used as the alt attribute describing the image content. There is a box to Change alt text, a check box to mark it as a decorative image, and currently inactive buttons for Prev, Next, and Apply.

From your screenshot, I see you have TidyUp. If you also happen to have DesignPLUS from CidiLabs, then you can use its accessibility checker to edit alt text for all of the pictures on the page, without having to select each one and no need to push "Done" or "Apply". (Even images without alt text issues are shown.) That would streamline the task a little bit.

Image Alt Checker within the DesignPLUS Accessibility / Usability tab. Shows thumbnails of images. Each thumbnail has a box for Alt Text and a check box to mark the image as decorative.

JeffCampbell

Out of curiosity, are you trying to set up captions to be shown below the image? If so, the piece you are editing would be Alt Text. This does not show up as a traditional caption and is instead something that would be used by Screen Readers to describe the image.

If you are looking for traditional caption that display below the image, that is implemented via html using the Figure and Figcaption tags before and after the image code:

<SPAN class="hljs-tag"><<SPAN class="hljs-name">figure</SPAN>></SPAN>
    <SPAN class="hljs-tag"><<SPAN class="hljs-name">img</SPAN> <SPAN class="hljs-attr">src</SPAN>=<SPAN class="hljs-string">'image.jpg'</SPAN> <SPAN class="hljs-attr">alt</SPAN>=<SPAN class="hljs-string">'missing'</SPAN> /> </SPAN>
    <SPAN class="hljs-tag"><<SPAN class="hljs-name">figcaption</SPAN>></SPAN>Caption goes here<SPAN class="hljs-tag"></<SPAN class="hljs-name">figcaption</SPAN>></SPAN>
<SPAN class="hljs-tag"></<SPAN class="hljs-name">figure</SPAN>></SPAN>

Chris_Hofer

Hi @slcooper ...

I tried uploading an image to my own sandbox course and adding alt text to it. I am actually not aware of anything within the old "Files" interface or the new "Files" interface of Canvas that would allow you to see the alt text of the image you had added to your content page. Just as an example, I had uploaded an image of a panda to a content page of my course. The image was uploaded to my "Uploaded Media 2" folder within the "Files" area of my sandbox course. I couldn't find any settings (either editing the file or viewing the file) that allowed me to see the alt text I used for the image on the content page. Could you help us identify where you thought you might be able to see the alt text for the image within your "Files" page? Any additional help would be great...thanks!

Chris

Hi @slcooper,

-Chris

Unanswered Questions

Verifying email in Ways to Contact does not work
We have a teacher who is not receiving email messages in Canvas because she has not previously verified her email address in Ways to Contact. We have had her verify her email address several times, but no confirmations appear in her email, neither in her inbox, nor in her spam filter. We know that she has a working email,…
Partial Credit in Alternative Format Questions
Looking for the addition of partial credit for alternative format questions in Canvas, like ordering and category/matrix. We can only do it in close drop down, matching, and multiple response.
Course Analytics not currently reporting all data ?
Has anyone found gaps in their course analytics ? I'm currently seeing missing last view date, last participation date, and participations at overall course level, even though the same data is present at individual week and student level. Am also seeing truncated asset counts ie we are seeing only the global header counts,…
Allow Observers to View Instructor Comments
It would be very beneficial for observers (parents) if they could view instructor comments. If they had access to this information, they could better understand the grading of individual assignments and better understand the errors that their student made.
Canvas integration with React + Flask webapp - initially for authenticaiton
I have a new React + Flask webapp. It has its own login for users to start using the app. I have added this as an external tool in Canvas. What I want initially is to see of canvas users can start using the webapp without having to login if they click on the external tool link in a canvas course. I have 2 methods…