Is it possible for me to send a message directly to a student's Canvas inbox from my email?

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julie_wolfe1
Community Novice

When I Canvas message my students, the message goes to their Canvas Inbox AND to their school email account.

When I email my students, the email only goes to their school email account (not to their Canvas inbox). 

It is much easier for me to communicate with students using my email account but a lot of my students don't check their school email.  Is it possible for me to send a message directly to their Canvas inbox from my email?  This would make life so much easier!

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Chris_Hofer
Community Coach
Community Coach

Hello  @julie_wolfe1  Welcome to the Canvas Community.  Thanks for posting your question.

When I Canvas message my students, the message goes to their Canvas Inbox AND to their school email account.

Possibly.  I am not sure how your school has chosen to configure things in Canvas, but it might be the case that some students have chosen to NOT receive e-mail notifications, but rather they only want to receive notifications via text message, for example.  It is entirely up to the individual student how he/she wants to be notified about things in Canvas.

When I email my students, the email only goes to their school email account (not to their Canvas inbox).

Correct.

Is it possible for me to send a message directly to their Canvas inbox from my email?

No...because Canvas does not technically have "e-mail".  The Canvas Inbox is not e-mail.  It's a messaging system to send/receive messages to/from people enrolled in the same course as you.  That is why friends and family who are not enrolled in any courses cannot send you a message from their own e-mail accounts and then expect that you'll see it in your Canvas Inbox.

The exception to this is if, for example, a student was to send you a message via the Canvas Inbox, and you had your notification settings set up to receive a copy of that message via e-mail.  You could read that message in your e-mail Inbox (such as Outlook), and then you could reply via Outlook back to the student, and the student should get a copy of that message back in his/her Canvas Inbox.  But, if you are just composing a brand new message in Outlook to a student in your course, the student will not get a copy of it in his/her Canvas Inbox.

I hope this helps, Julie.  Stay safe, and be well.

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