[Account Settings] Terms Menu Improvements

[KymBender]

Our institution has over 1000 terms on one of our instances, and the terms menu on the Courses page has become pretty non-functional. There are times it does not load at all, or when it does load it can take a minute or more to load. We could use some improvements to the functionality that would help mitigate this issue.

While we can type the term name in the box, we have to type it exactly as it is named. If the terms menu could be improved so that a partial search could be done instead of having to match the term name exactly, that would be very helpful.

I did put in a ticket with Canvas support and here was their response:
At this present time, we do not have a method in place that will resolve the behavior you are experiencing. The best solution to this behavior is to swap the dropdown menu with a search box once a certain threshold of terms has been passed. However, we do not have a function in the API to search for specific terms, and that function would be necessary for the creation of that solution. As adding that function is creating a brand new feature in Canvas and not repurposing or adjusting existing functionality, this would need to go through the feature idea process to be added to Canvas as a whole.

[KristinL]

Hi @KymBender -

Thank you for taking the time to share this well-developed Idea for the Community. 

There are some related Ideas currently open:

More intuitive term sorting/presentation 

Hiding old terms (archiving) 

If either of these would help you (or mostly align with an item you listed), please comment and follow the discussion.

The other(s) should be featured in their own thread to help Project Managers and Community Members focus their conversations. If you need help or if you have questions about the process, let the Community Team know. How do I create a new idea conversation in the Instructure Community? 

[KymBender]

Hi Kristin,

I did 5 star both of those posts. Do I need to remove the rest of the points from my post and leave it at just point 1 and the suggestion from support?

[JustinKeene]

I have worked for large institutions and worked closely with other Canvas across the state who also struggle with how to solve this issue.  I have seen a variety of custom solutions implemented but all state the terms menu can be very difficult to manage. 

To follow up with the post's points:

1.  An improved search feature for terms would greatly help in getting to the results quickly.  

2. View terms and courses on a sub-account level would be of great benefit for all of our users as it would expedite the process for all, while eliminating some of the "noise" caused by data the users may not need to see.

3. This point is the one I have seen other admins struggle with greatly as there is no good way to manage this data.  For reporting purposes, it is vital to keep the terms intact as they were when active.  Additionally, consolidating the terms and courses is a tedious process.

I too have 5 starred the other posts suggested.  For context, I have previously worked with Canvas Admins from North Carolina, and managing the Terms menu has been a topic of conversation many times.

[KristinL]

@KymBender --  Yes, please! That would be awesome! Thank you for your reply and your willingness to collaborate.

[CoreyMcNeill]

@KristinL YES, we would very much like to have the ability to search and filter terms! I support all of our NC Canvas admins, and I can tell you that they would love to see this as a feature. 

[Code-with-Ski]

Wow that is a lot of terms to manage.  It definitely would be nice if their Enrollment Terms API had a search functionality.  It would also be nice if there was an additional workflow state so they could be placed in an "archived" state so it isn't deleted, but is hidden from the drop-down results.  This could also help reduce the number of API calls that are needed to get the terms that are shown in the drop-down results.

[KymBender]

@Code-with-Ski Good point about the workflow state! Definitely agree!