What is the Rich Content Editor (RCE)?
The Rich Content Editor is an online editing tool for creating content. It includes a menubar, toolbar, content space, and other features that allow you to create content containing formatted text, hyperlinks, images, media, mathematical formulas, embedded objects, tables, and more.
You can use the Rich Content Editor in the following Canvas features:
- Announcements
- Assignments
- Discussions
- New Quizzes
- Pages
- Quizzes
- Syllabus
Learn more through the following resources:
- Rich Content Editor video
- Rich Content Editor lessons for instructors
- Rich Content Editor lessons for students
View Rich Content Editor
The Rich Content Editor includes the content area, the menubar, and the toolbar.
You can add and preview content in the content area [1].
To format the page content, use the menubar options [2].
You can use the toolbar options to format text [3]; insert links, images, media recordings, documents, or icons [4]; access the Lucid EDU suite [5]; open external tools [6]; format paragraphs [7]; clear formatting [8]; add tables [9]; insert math using the Equation Editor [10]; and embed media [11].
To view all toolbar options, you may have to click the Options icon [12].
Note: If icon creation is enabled by your institution, you can create icons and insert them using the Icon Maker.
View Content Features
The Rich Content Editor also provides general content management features. You can:
- view the HTML format code being used in selected text [1]
- open a list of keyboard shortcuts [2]
- open an accessibility checker [3]
- view a total word count [4]
- view and edit the content in HTML [5]
- open the Rich Content Editor to full screen [6]
- change the size of the content area by clicking and dragging the Resize icon [7]
Open Keyboard Shortcuts
You can use keyboard navigation in the Rich Content Editor. To view the Keyboard Shortcuts menu, click the Keyboard icon or press the Shift+Question Mark keys simultaneously. You can also open the menu by pressing the Alt+F8 keys (PC keyboard) or Option+F8 keys (Mac keyboard) simultaneously.
View Keyboard Shortcuts Menu
The following shortcuts are supported in the Rich Content Editor:
- To open the Keyboard Shortcuts dialog, press Alt+F8 (on a PC keyboard) or Option+F8 (on a Mac keyboard) simultaneously
- To focus the element options toolbar, press Ctrl+F9 (on a PC keyboard) or Cmd+F9 (on a Mac keyboard) simultaneously
- To focus on the editor's menubar, press Alt+F9 (on a PC keyboard) or Option+F9 (on a Mac keyboard) simultaneously
- To open the editor's toolbar, press Alt+F10 (on a PC keyboard) or Option+F10 (on a Mac keyboard) simultaneously
- To close a menu or dialog and return to the editor area, press the Esc key
- To navigate through a menu or toolbar, press the Tab key or the arrow keys
- You can also use other keyboard shortcuts