Difficulty Identifying Correct Recipient in Canvas Inbox Due to Duplicate Names

[tobe_baeyens]

Hello,

While testing the Canvas Inbox functionality, I noticed a confusing issue related to user identification. When I try to send a message via the Inbox and search for a name, Canvas only shows the full name of the user — without any additional identifying information such as email address, role, or account context.

In my case, this caused confusion because I appear twice in the system: once with a test account and once with my official work account. Both accounts have exactly the same display name. When I select a recipient, I see two identical names listed, and there's no way to tell which one is linked to my test account and which one to my real account. This makes it impossible to know which recipient I’m actually messaging.

After sending a message to what I thought was my work account, I later realized it had gone to the test account instead.

My questions:

1. Is there any way to distinguish between users with the same display name when composing a message in the Canvas Inbox?

2. Could this be improved in the user interface — for example, by showing additional metadata such as email address, SIS ID, or role?

3. Is this something that can be resolved via settings, or should this be considered a feature request?

[Gabriel33 · Accepted solution]

In the particular example that it's your account, you can change your displayed name: Updating my displayed name in Canvas - Instructure Community - 853

But if it's someone else, it's more complicated:

There's an existing Idea that would partly help, to allow you to include nicknames to those students, but it's from 2018, so don't wait for it: [Gradebook] Nickname for students with same name - Page 3 - Instructure Community - 366381  

One workaround is to message students in that situation from the context card, found by clicking their name within the Gradebook or the People page (note the mail image on the "View Context Card" image): How do I use the People page in a course as an ins... - Instructure Community - 667