New DesignPLUS Sidebar

The new DesignPLUS Sidebar is easier to use out of the box (especially for new and basic users), more intuitive to customize, and contains many new features. A lot has changed, so we recommend looking through the training materials provided on this page.

If you used the tools previously, you may need to use the keyboard shortcut detailed in this guide below to get the tools to appear again in your Canvas.

1 Getting Started with the new DesignPLUS Sidebar

Getting Started with the new DesignPLUS Sidebar

Opening the DesignPLUS Sidebar in Canvas

To open the DesignPLUS sidebar in Canvas, use the keyboard shortcut Alt-Shift-D (Windows) or Option-Shift-D (Mac) any time you are editing content in canvas to open the tools.

You must be editing content in Canvas for the keyboard shortcuts to work. If neither of these shortcuts work, you can also try Ctrl-1.

Automatically show launch button

Once the Sidebar opens, we recommend changing your user settings to always show the launch button. Then, you will be able to click on the launch button to launch the DesignPLUS sidebar and will not need to use the keyboard shortcut.

To do this:

Use the kebab menu to go to “User Settings”

And check the box next to Show Launch Button.

Updating legacy Canvas content to work with the new sidebar

The first time you use the new sidebar to edit a page, you will be prompted to update the content on the page to work with the new sidebar.

Select Go to the Upgrade Tool and upgrade all elements on the page at once.

Upgrade all legacy course content at once with the Course Upgrade tool

If you have a lot of content that was created using the legacy CIDI Labs DesignPlus toolbar and you would like to upgrade all of your course content at once so it can work with the new DesignPlus Sidebar, use the Course Upgrade tool.