Summary:Users reporting issues with things in Canvas that are powered by Javascript–such as Conversations inbox, Discussions and File pages–may be experiencing these problems because of third-party software unrelated to Canvas. Removing the third-party software may resolve the issue.

Details:In the last few days, we’ve seen a lot of tickets from Windows users reporting issues with things in Canvas that are powered by Javascript, e.g.:

• Conversations inbox: messages in inbox do not appear
• Discussions: replies to discussion posts do not load
• Files page: list of files does not load

These tickets didn’t initially seem to have a lot in common, other than that something in Canvas wasn’t working for a single user. We couldn’t reproduce the problems.

On a hunch, one of our Support engineers asked a user to look through the installed programs on their machine for things they didn’t recognize. The user identified a program called “Sendori” as unfamiliar and uninstalled it; the Canvas problems they’d been experiencing immediately went away. We’ve since been able to resolve many other tickets this way.

Sendori’s developers claim that it improves browsing performance for users’ favorite websites. We don’t have an opinion on this claim. We’ve learned that:

• A lot of users seem to have had Sendori installed on their machines recently
• None of the users we’ve talked to remember choosing to install Sendori
• Sendori can interfere with Canvas

If you have Sendori installed on your computer, follow the steps below to remove it:

1. Click “Start” then type “Programs and Features” into the search box that appears.
2. Click on “Programs and Features” when it appears in the list.
3. Wait until the list of programs finishes loading and look for “Sendori” in the list.
4. Click on Sendori, then click Uninstall near the top of the window.
5. Follow the prompts on the uninstaller until you get a survey page.
6. Close the survey page without responding and allow the uninstaller to reboot your computer.

Canvas Best Practices

• Go to the AU Access page
• Click the “click here” link in the line that starts  “To post final grades . . .” under the Banner Admin and Tigeri heading
• Log in with your AU Username and password.
• Click “Faculty and Advisors”
• Click the “Submit Final Grades” link.

Canvas is still available using the auburn.instructure.com link.

While you’re updating the license key, it’s a good time to check to see if there are any updates. Click Help at the top left, then “Check for Updates.”

If you have any questions, please let us know.

Your browser doesn’t meet the minimum requirements for Canvas.

Students should ignore this message and use the Lockdown Browser anyway.

This message is being displayed because of some recent changes to Canvas, but it is not accurate and does not apply to the Respondus Lockdown Browser. Instructure is aware of the problem and is working on a hotfix.

Bottom line: Canvas will work just fine in the Respondus Lockdown Browser. On a side note, the Lockdown Browser for Windows has just been updated with bug fixes that make it faster. We recommend that students update their version by re-downloading the installer and choosing the “reinstall” option.