Is my Canvas Inbox for a given course automatically connected to my linked email ?

[MarkSchafer]

Hello! I have two questions about how my Canvas Inbox links to the external email listed in my Canvas Profile. In section 1.6 of the "Growing with Canvas" training, it says, regarding the Inbox: "Easy to use: Connected to your main email address; can receive copies of your Canvas Conversations at the email or any Notification pathway and answer right from there. Will appear to students that the communication was all contained in Canvas."

So, two questions:

1) Is my Canvas Inbox for a given course automatically connected to my linked email or do I have to set that up?  If the latter, how do I do that?

2) If I reply to a message in my Canvas Inbox by replying to the copy sent to my external email FROM my external email, the student who receives my reply will think that I replied to their message from within my Inbox, not from my external email? If not, what does the last sentence of the quote above mean?

Thank you!

Mark

[BradMoser · Accepted solution]

Hi @MarkSchafer 

Great question about how Canvas Inbox works with your external email provider (i.e. Gmail, Outlook...etc.) and how to set it up. I hope to help. Here's a video reply showing a demo student (Zack Morris) and my teacher account side-by-side. 

Quick answers to your questions:

1. It is linked to your user profile. You can check in your notification and profile settings. You will want to adjust your Notification settings for Conversations though. How to manage notifications settings?
2. The student will see your email reply in their Canvas Inbox. If they set up their notifications to receive Canvas Inbox in their external email they will also view it there too. See my video showing you want this will look like. 

I used Vidyard to record and share the video. Hopefully, the reply doesn't block the embed but it does, here my the video link.

Canvas Community: Sending Emails Replies to Canvas Inbox

Addition Inbox links to review. 

• What is Canvas Inbox?
• How do I use Canvas Inbox?