Sending a message

[boggsde]

I am a non-instructional employee, and do not have access to all of Canvas.  How do I email a student through Canvas, or can I?

[kmeeusen · Accepted solution]

Hi  @boggsde  Welcome to the Canvas Community!

First and foremost, Canvas does not have an email feature, Canvas has a messaging function called Inbox that is intended for sending message between users enrolled in a course. This is important, because you have to be enrolled in some role (teacher, student etc.) in a course in order to send messages to other users enrolled in a course. If you need to send an inbox message to  a student in a course, then you will need to talk to your school's Canvas Admin about getting enrolled in that student's course.

Most schools provide students with email addresses, and it might be much easier to use your school's email system for sending messages to students.

Kelley

[ericwerth]

Hi  @boggsde    @kmeeusen  is correct.  I just thought that I would add that depending on how your institution chooses to communicate with students, it may be possible to message students though the Inbox.  At my university, we have communication "courses" set up with all students or all staff/faculty enrolled.  In the student course, various individuals on campus are enrolled as well so they can message students in Canvas or post resources.  We find this gives us flexibility in how we connect with students.  We have also found that while our students don't appear to respond to emails, they do so more when Inbox messages are sent, perhaps because they get a push notification on the student app??

Food for thought!  If you do have access to a course, the guide pages on the Inbox (https://community.canvaslms.com/docs/DOC-10460-canvas-instructor-guide-table-of-contents#jive_conten...) are helpful in learning how to use its functionality.

All the best---