A “session expired” message and a log-in prompt appear after several minutes of viewing the public version of a Canvas site either for users whose login data has been saved in Canvas from a prior session or for users who are logged into Canvas in another browser window.
There are two possible solutions for this issue:
1. Log out of Canvas and clear your browser’s cache before accessing the public version of a Canvas site. Here are instructions for how to clear your browser’s cache:
2. Use Google Chrome’s “Incognito” mode if you want to remain logged into Canvas while viewing the public version of a Canvas site (more information on Google Chrome’s “Incognito” mode).
Since this issue only affects users who have access to a Canvas instance, anyone outside the University of Washington who is not associated with a Canvas instance should not experience this issue. If a public version of a Canvas site is accessed by someone at another institution that has a Canvas instance, they should follow either of the above suggestions to avoid seeing the time-out message and log-in prompt.