Downloading PowerPoints from Modules or Files

If I (an instructor) upload a PowerPoint to my course, I (and my students) cannot download it.

Usually, I upload a PowerPoint to a Module. It can then be accessed from the Module or from Files. However, if we try to download/export the PowerPoint, it downloads as an incompatible file type instead of PowerPoint or PDF. The PowerPoint can be previewed within Canvas, so the upload worked. However, we cannot download/export it to our computers.

Any help is appreciated!

Find more posts tagged with

Admin

Instructional Designer

Instructor

Accepted answers

JenMurphyA

@DaphneWerz - I'm still not sure why this is happening, but I am hopeful that the content is intact, and you can at least use the files. I would try changing the extension of one of the files from .file to whatever it is supposed to be. So rename a downloaded file such as "Lecture x.file" to "Lecture x.pptx" if you think it's a powerpoint (or .docx if you think it's a Word file, etc.) To do this, first display file extensions in the File Explorer if you're using Windows. (Open File Explorer, click the View tab, select Show > File name extensions.) Then, rename the file and change the extension. (In File Explorer, click to select the file, press F2 on your keyboard, and enter the new name.) After changing the extension, try opening the file.

All comments

masantos

Hello @DaphneWerz

I'm not sure what's causing this. Have you tried contacting Canvas Support to see if it's a bug?

DaphneWerz

Thank you @masantos! I have the free version, so I was under the impression that I cannot leverage Canvas Support

JenMurphyA

@DaphneWerz - If you haven't already, I would try another file type and another PowerPoint file.. just to see if the issue is the file for some reason. I would also try adding the file directly to Files, again - just to see what happens. This might help narrow down the issue. - Jen

JenMurphyA

That's puzzling, @DaphneWerz - I would check with a system admin and also make sure you are able to download files from other sites. I am assuming your Files list looks something like this...

file download.png

What does your % full at the bottom look like? And when you download a file, what name and extension does the file have?

JenMurphyA

FlemmingVesterg

It seems like a button has been removed in Canvas, just for power-point. If you have enclosed files in the modules, you have this little icon for downloading. But it is gone for power-point, I just noticed it yesterday

Unanswered Questions

Please restore student ability to immediately download submissions to verify them...
A recent change my students have been complaining about is that they now have to wait for Canvas to process submissions so that it can be displayed within the browser before they can check that the submission worked. When the servers are heavily loaded I have seen student need to wait 5 minutes for this. When submitting at…
How can I view a complete history of a student's posts in all course discussions?
If I access to the student card I can see the recent messages, but I would like to see all the messages, not only the recent. Thank you
Monitoring API Activity (in test)
We are testing a third party integration from our college's ERP provider. We have connected it to our test environment. It seems to have very few features and options. So, just wondering if there is a way to monitor API calls. I was able to use the DAPClient in Python to download canvas_logs in our production environment.…
Feature Request: Global Setting for "Display Text Link" as Default for Image Uploads
To the Canvas Product Team, I am writing to request a new global or course-level setting for the Rich Content Editor (RCE). Currently, when images are uploaded or embedded, Canvas defaults to displaying the full image. For many lab-based and data-heavy courses—such as my current molecular biology lab course—we often need…
Lockdown Browser and Record Media option in RCE
Our Spanish department uses New Quizzes/Essay question type for students to record themselves talking using the record media function in the RCE. They did this all last year. However, now when the students log in to take the quize, the upload/record media icon isn't available to them. Is this a new issues? Anyone have any…