User Guide Upgrade

Something Not Working?

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 our Hidden Gems page for the status of legacy gems.

If you encounter a bug (or something else wonky) while using the Upgrade tool, you can submit a Support Ticket right from the Sidebar! What is great about this feature is that it collects and sends our developers all the information they need to resolve your issue.

It's also a resource for you! The first link in the notice is a Knowledge Base Article (KBA) with Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) about the Upgrade tool, including what to expect and what kinds of things may be known bugs. The second link is a form that allows you to report a problem to Cidi Labs and the form automatically collects the before and after upgrade HTML from the page you're on!

Notice at the top of the Upgrade tool that says "Upgrade problems? Check out our Upgrade Tool FAQ and, if needed, launch the Upgrade Support Form to report a problem to Cidi labs.

Known Issues

The following are known issues and their status:

Issue	Status
Hidden Gems not updating	We have a Hidden Gems page dedicated to the status of legacy gems

Themes with Navigation over an Image

Themes where the navigation covered the banner image will update to a similar theme without the navigation overlap. We will be introducing a tool in the future that will focus specifically on navigations connected to images.

Overview

Use this tool to:

Upgrade legacy Design Tools content to be compatible with the new DesignPLUS Sidebar. Doing so will enable all the powerful new features, streamlined workflow, and flexible content included in the new DesignPLUS Sidebar.

Related Tools:

Video Guide

Interface

You can access the Upgrade tool in two ways:

Go to the Accessibility / Usability tab and select the Upgrade tool in the Usability section.
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.

Learn about the different components in the Upgrade tool interface.

1.) Scan Again button: This button performs a scan of the page contents to refresh the list of legacy content identified.
2.) Upgrade All button: This button will complete the upgrade process for all legacy content identified on this page.
3.) View Individual Upgrades: An advanced option that shows all legacy Design Tools content identified. This allows you to upgrade instances of a specific content type.
4.) Symbol Key button: This button shows the symbol key which explains the icons on the Content Type expander headings.
5.) Content Type expanders: Expand a Content Type expander to upgrade specific instances or to upgrade all instances of that type.
6.) Upgrade All of Type button: This button will upgrade all instances of the content type.
7.) Upgrade Instance buttons: These buttons will upgrade one instance at a time.

Symbol Key Contents

Legacy upgrades fall into one or more of the following categories:

This flag is added to any component that might need additional attention before you upgrade.

The link caution flag is added to any items where updating might cause issues if you have manually created links that point to a specific element ID.

Style changes can impact the look and feel of content

Structure changes are updates necessary for the new sidebar to recognize and edit legacy content

Functionality changes include interactive or dynamically built items

Instructions

Upgrade all legacy Design Tools content on a page at once

To upgrade all legacy content at once:

Go to the Accessibility / Usability tab and open the Upgrade tool.
Select the button that says, "Upgrade All ## Items".
The tool will now upgrade all items a few at a time until they're all complete.
The page content is now compatible with the new Sidebar.

Upgrade legacy Design Tools content by type

To upgrade one or more elements by type:

Go to the Accessibility / Usability tab and open the Upgrade tool.
Select the Individual Upgrade (Advanced) option.
Browse the expander headings and find the type of legacy content you want to upgrade.
Open the expander.
1. To upgrade all identified elements of that type, select the button that says, "Upgrade All"
2. To upgrade individual elements of that type, hover over the Instanced buttons until you find the element you want to upgrade, then select that button.

Resources

Design Considerations/Best Practices

Please consider the following when choosing to use the Upgrade tool:

If your content has custom ids with hash links (such as heading navigation or accordion links) then be careful when upgrading so that you can replace these IDs after the upgrade process completes. See the FAQ below for more information.
If your Canvas theme's CSS file or your course-level Custom CSS file has custom CSS scoped to .kl_ classes, that CSS will not work with upgraded content. You may want to update your custom CSS with additional declarations to account for the new .dp- classes from the new Sidebar.

How it Works

The Upgrade tool identifies and transforms the HTML ids, classes, and structures from legacy “kl_” code to new “dp-” code. The “dp-” HTML code is identified in the new Sidebar, which is much more flexible and efficient for all users.

Job Aide Document

If you or someone on your team would benefit from a one-page document about the Upgrade tool, you can view such a document here.

FAQ

Frequently Asked Questions

Will legacy Design Tools content still work without upgrading?

Without any action, legacy content will still be displayed normally in the live view. Upgrading is only necessary if users want to work with the new DesignPLUS Sidebar.

Eventually, the legacy content CSS and JS will no longer be maintained, so it will be important for all institutions to upgrade content at some point.

Can the new DesignPLUS Sidebar edit legacy Design Tools content?

No, you must use the Upgrade tool to upgrade legacy content if you want to edit it with the new Sidebar.

Can the legacy Design Tools edit content that has been upgraded?

No, the legacy Design Tools sidebar cannot be used to edit upgraded content. Once content has been upgraded, it can only be edited with the new DesignPLUS Sidebar.

Does the new DesignPLUS Sidebar offer all the same features as legacy Design Tools?

Yes, the new DesignPLUS Sidebar has complete feature parity with legacy Design Tools. It also has many new features and a streamlined workflow and user interface.

Can legacy content and upgraded content exist in the same course at the same time?

Yes, both old and new content can exist simultaneously in the same course. The upgrade process is done at a page-level.

Is there a way to bulk upgrade all the pages in a course at the same time?

No, the Upgrade tool only works at the page-level.

Should I upgrade content if the tool shows a link caution flag?

The link caution flag is just letting you know that the content has an id attached to it. You have a few choices in this situation:

Upgrade and don't replace the ID.
1. If you have any links pointing to that ID, they will no longer work. If this is not a concern, then upgrading without replacing the ID is a good approach.
Upgrade and then add the ID back.
1. If you want to upgrade but don't want to lose any links, then note the id of the element and after upgrading, add the ID back to the new upgraded element. This will keep any links working and allow you to use the new Sidebar tools.
Don't upgrade and preserve the ID.
1. If there are links pointing to the ID, they will continue to work. However, you will not be able to edit this element with the new DesignPLUS Sidebar tools if you do not upgrade.

Last Updated Jul 29, 2025, 3:37 PM