Symptoms:
- In the Files tab of your Canvas profile, your file storage quota is over 100%
- (sometimes) when attempting to capture or upload a profile picture, the page stalls indefinitely without completing the upload
Solution:
In the Files tab of your Canvas profile, clear up space in the folder labeled "My Files" and its subfolders (after saving the files elsewhere, of course!). The "conversation attachments" subfolder is most often the culprit. Video files take up the most space and should instead be shared via Adler's Panopto video hosting website.
Only the "My Files" folder counts towards your storage quota, so you can either delete files or move them to the appropriate course (which have 20x as much space as user profiles).
Canvas will allow file uploads as soon as you drop below 100% usage, but it's a good idea to keep going until less than 80% is used.
Now that you have enough space available, the Canvas profile picture upload will complete normally.
Why does this happen?
Due to a flaw in Canvas' upload rules, attaching files to conversations in the Inbox tab allows you to exceed the 50 MB limit. Doing so will not block further attachments within conversations, but will block file uploads everywhere else in your profile (excluding uploads to Canvas courses). Although it doesn't seem like an upload on the surface, changing your profile picture is technically a kind of file upload, and breaks down as a result.