DesignPLUS for Canvas: Transition to the New Sidebar

Explore the new sidebar by selecting Try New Version from the flyout panel that displays when you select Design Tools Settings (gear icon) in the legacy sidebar. 

You can also toggle between legacy and new when you're editing a page with these key combinations:

• MacOS: Shift + Option + V
• Windows: Shift + ALT + V

In January, the new sidebar will be the default but you can revert to the old sidebar with the key combination above. In mid-May 2025, the legacy sidebar will no longer be available. Until then, you'll be working with two sidebars available. Learn features of the new DesignPLUS sidebar through user guides and video tutorials.

Working with Two Sidebars

Your preference for the legacy or the new sidebar follows you from page to page and course to course. This can result in you landing on a page that was built with the alternate sidebar. 

• When using the new sidebar on a page built with the legacy sidebar, you'll be invited to upgrade the page's content. 
• When using the legacy sidebar on a page built with the new sidebar, you'll be invited to switch to the new sidebar.

Whether to Upgrade Content

If your content does not need edits, you can leave it as is. However, beginning in 2026, the underlying code will no longer be supported. This can result in the page not rendering as you intend. To be fully supported past 2025, content must be upgraded to work with the new sidebar. Once you save an edit made with the new sidebar, you must continue using the new sidebar on that page going forward.

How to Upgrade Content

• Users can upgrade a single page of content when they launch the new DesignPLUS sidebar on any Canvas content item in edit mode. There are two ways to do this:
  1. Go to the Accessibility / Usability tab and select the Upgrade tool in the Usability section.

2. Open the DesignPLUS notifications in the bottom right of the Sidebar. If legacy content is found on the page, there will be a notification with a link to launch the Upgrade tool.

• Users may also upgrade an entire course to the new sidebar.
• Inconsistencies in the design and look of the page may arise (see below).

Upgrade Inconsistencies

If you used the legacy templates with UMN branded colors, most of your pages will upgrade to the new tool without much change. The DesignTools User Group shared conditions where upgrading to the new sidebar changed how content looks or behaves:

• Legacy Teacher/TA Block: The legacy Teacher/TA Block is referred to as the User Details block in the new sidebar. When converting pages with that type of block, users reported design inconsistencies. A gray box may appear around the block and it may also be nested oddly when multiple blocks are used. 
• Editing in the RCE: Headings in themes initially made with the legacy sidebar may break or completely change the formatting of all subsequent Headings when a user updates them in the RCE instead of DesignPLUS sidebar after upgrading a page. Headings in themes designed with the new sidebar remain stable when updating or adding additional Headings to the page via the RCE. 
• Color Palettes: When using colors outside of the “UMN Misc.” or branding colors that come with the theme, “Active” and “Hover” color changes may not behave as anticipated with the custom colors. 
• Themes changes: Legacy themes where the navigation covered the banner image will update to a similar theme without the navigation overlap. 

To report gotchas you experience updating to the new sidebar, email the Design Tools User Group with the details. 

Cidilabs has an extensive list of resources in the Modules area of their training site to help you navigate the new sidebar and find features you frequently used in the legacy sidebar. Cidilabs notes, “The Upgrade Tool is a work in progress. Many of the Hidden Gems do not yet have an equivalent in the new sidebar so you may be asked to upgrade them in the future. Visit the Hidden Gems page for the status of legacy gems.”