
The Canvas Inbox is a messaging tool used to communicate with a course, a group, an individual student, or a group of students. It is not an email, but depending on each user's notification settings, they may receive an email notification delivered to their university email account alerting them of a new message in their Canvas Inbox. Students can also choose to receive push notifications on their phones if they have the Canvas app installed.
| Characteristics | Values |
|---|---|
| Nature of Canvas Conversations | Messages in the Canvas Inbox are referred to as "conversations". |
| Email Notifications | Depending on their notification settings, students may receive email notifications about new messages in their Canvas Inbox. |
| Email Address | Email notifications are sent to students' university email accounts, e.g. @pitt.edu, @horizon.csueastbay.edu. |
| Default Setting | By default, email notifications are sent when a new message is posted in the Canvas Inbox. |
| Customization | Students can customize their notification settings, e.g. choosing between immediate, daily, or weekly notifications. |
| Mobile App | Students using the Canvas mobile app will receive push notifications on their phones. |
| Unconfirmed Emails | In some cases, email notifications may not be delivered due to unconfirmed email addresses. |
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What You'll Learn

Students can customise how they receive notifications
The Canvas Inbox collects all the conversations in one place. Depending on how a student sets their notifications, they can receive a notification whenever they receive a new message in their Canvas Inbox. Students can also choose to turn off these notifications.
Students can also receive notifications on their phones if they have the Canvas app. The default setting is for the app to create a push notification on the phone. However, students can customise their personal settings and choose to turn these notifications off.
Canvas has four different notification settings: Notify Immediately, Daily Summary, Weekly Summary, and Notifications Off. Students can choose different notifications for individual courses. Changing settings for a course will change how notifications are received for that particular course but will not affect other courses.
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The Canvas inbox works like an email inbox
The Canvas Inbox is a messaging tool that allows users to communicate with a course, a group, an individual student, or a group of students. It works similarly to an email inbox in that it collects all of the conversations in one place. Users can send messages, sort messages, and receive messages in their Canvas Inbox.
Users can choose to receive email notifications about new messages in their Canvas Inbox. By default, Canvas sends an email notification when a new inbox message is posted. These notifications include a link to access the full message within Canvas and may include some limited text content from the message. Depending on each user's notification settings, they may receive an email notification delivered to their university email account alerting them that a message has been sent via the Inbox. However, regardless of whether or not they are receiving email notifications, messages sent through the Inbox are available for them to read and respond to from within Canvas.
To send a message in Canvas, users can click on the Inbox in the upper-right corner of the screen and enter the address of the recipient in the "To" field. Users can also click on the profile icon in the "To" field to search for the recipient by class, group, or role. Once the recipient's name is selected, the user can enter their message in the "Message" field.
It is important to note that the Canvas Inbox is not the same as email. While it functions similarly, there are some differences in features. For example, the Canvas Inbox does not support linking URLs to text like Gmail does. Additionally, media files such as .png and .jpg images may not display in the email notification.
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Students can view inbox messages when they log in to Canvas
The Canvas Inbox is a messaging tool used to communicate with a course, a group, an individual student, or a group of students. It is not email. However, depending on each user's notification settings, they may receive an email notification delivered to their university email account alerting them that a message has been sent via the Inbox. This notification will include the text of the message, as well as the ability to reply without leaving their email.
Regardless of whether or not they are receiving email notifications, students can view messages sent through the Inbox by logging in to Canvas. When a user has new, unread Inbox messages, a badge with a number indicating the quantity of new messages will appear over the Inbox icon in their global navigation menu. The number will remain until the messages are viewed.
Students can customise their personal settings for how they receive notifications about new announcements or inbox messages. By default, Canvas sends an email notification when a new inbox message is posted. If a student has the Canvas app, the default setting is for the app to create a push notification on their phone. However, some students may choose to turn these notifications off.
To be notified as soon as a new message is received in the Canvas Inbox, students can follow these steps:
- Under their email address, mouse over the row for "Conversation Message".
- Select the check box next to "Notify me right away".
- Make sure the field says "ASAP".
Students can also choose to receive mobile notifications if they are using the Canvas Student App.
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Instructors can send messages to students using the Canvas inbox tool
Instructors can communicate with students using the Canvas Inbox tool, which collects all Canvas conversations in one place. This tool works similarly to an email inbox and is secure. Instructors can send messages to a course, a group, an individual student, or a group of students. Depending on each user's notification settings, they may receive an email notification alerting them of a new message in their @pitt.edu email account. These notifications include a link to access the full message within Canvas and may include some limited text content from the message. Students can also choose to receive push notifications on their phones if they have the Canvas app installed.
Instructors can follow these steps to send a message using the Canvas Inbox tool:
- In the upper-right corner of Canvas, click "Inbox."
- If you know the address of the recipient, click inside the "To" field on the right side of the screen and enter the address. If you don't know the address, you can click the profile icon in the "To" field, select the class or group the person is in, and then click their name.
- Click in the "Message" field to enter your message.
It is important to note that the Canvas Inbox tool can only be used to send messages to students in active courses. For inactive courses or before the start of a course, instructors may need to use their university email accounts to contact students. Additionally, unlike Blackboard, conversation and announcement notifications in Canvas do not go to the original sender by default. Instructors who wish to receive confirmation of the messages they send can navigate to "Account" and then "Notifications" to ensure that the appropriate settings are enabled.
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Students can receive email notifications with the text of the announcement
The Canvas Inbox is a messaging tool used to communicate with a course, a group, an individual student, or a group of students. It is not email. Depending on each user’s notification settings, they may receive an email notification delivered to their university email account alerting them that a message has been sent via the Inbox. These notifications include the text of the message, as well as the ability to reply without leaving their email. Students can receive email notifications with the text of the announcement.
Students can choose in their notification settings whether or not they will be emailed a notification. By default, students will receive email notifications with the text of the announcement at their Horizon email addresses. However, media (.png, .jpg image files) will not display in the Horizon Gmail notification. Selecting the text link to the image will bring the recipient to the image destination in the Canvas course.
Instructors may also choose to set up an announcement with "liking" enabled and ask that students like the announcement to acknowledge receipt. Students can interact with an announcement by adding comments or by liking. You can post announcements for your whole class or a group, and choose to schedule them ahead of time.
To send someone a message in Canvas, click Inbox in the upper-right corner of Canvas. If you know the address of the person you want to message, click inside the "To" field on the right side of the screen and enter the address. To find an address, click the profile icon in the "To" field. In the address box, click the class or group the person is in, then click the person's role. If you don't know the role, click "Everyone" and then click the person's name. A checkmark will appear next to the name and the name will appear in the "To" field.
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Frequently asked questions
Yes, by default, students will receive email notifications with the text of the announcement at their university email addresses. However, students can choose in their notification settings whether or not they will be notified via email.
To send a message to a student in Canvas, first, click "Inbox" in the upper-right corner of Canvas. Then, click inside the "To" field and enter the address of the student. Finally, click inside the "Message" field and type your message.
Depending on your notification settings, you may receive an email notification alerting you of a new message in your Canvas Inbox. You can also check for a badge with a number over the Inbox icon in your global navigation menu, indicating the number of unread messages.
No, you can only send messages to students in active courses. If you want to contact students in an inactive course, use your university email account to contact their university email accounts.
No, conversations and announcements will only be sent to students after a course is published. If you wish to send a message to students before publishing the course, you will need to use another platform, such as email.











































