Canvas Notifications

[#1]

Canvas includes default notification settings you can receive for your courses. However, you can change the default settings by selecting your own notification settings. These settings only apply to you; they are not used to control how course updates are sent to other users. This document discusses each notification, default settings, and notification triggers.

Canvas includes a set of default notification settings you can receive for your account and for individual courses. Notifications are sent to Canvas contact methods as specified in your account. However, you can change the default settings by setting your own notification settings.

For more information about selecting Canvas notification settings, refer to How do I manage my Canvas notification settings?

Notification Types

Notifications are sent as one of four delivery types: Notify immediately, Daily Summary, Weekly Summary, or Notifications Off. If you change a setting, the change is made immediately to your account. 

• Daily Summary notifications may vary among users, but typically are scheduled to be delivered around 6pm in the user’s set time zone.
• Weekly Summary notifications vary among users. 
• Twitter notifications can only be set to Notify immediately or Notifications off.

Notifications set to Notify immediately may be delayed by up to one hour. To prevent users from being spammed by multiple notifications in a short amount of time, the following notifications may be temporarily held in case an instructor makes additional changes. The notification and approximate time delay are listed below:

Alerts

• Content Link Error: 2 minutes

Course Activities

• Due Date: 5 minutes
• Files: 5 minutes

Note: Notifications are delayed as long as work is still happening, to prevent misleading notifications.

Course Content

• Assignment Changed: 30 minutes
• Page Updated: 15 minutes

Grading

• Automatically Graded Assignment: 15 minutes
• Manually Graded Submission: 60 minutes
• Submission Grade Change: 5 minutes

Scheduling

• Calendar Event Date Changed: 15 minutes
  

Default Notifications

Default notifications are set as follows:

Alerts

• Administrative Notifications: Daily summary
• Content Link Error: Daily summary
• Global Announcement: Notify immediately

Course Activities

• Due Date: Weekly summary
• Grading Policies: Weekly summary
• Course Content: Notifications off
• Files: Notifications off
• Announcement: Notify immediately
• Announcement Created By You: Notifications off
• Grading: Notify immediately
• Invitation: Notify immediately
• All Submissions: Notifications off
• Late Grading: Daily summary
• Submission Comments: Daily summary
• Blueprint Sync: Daily summary

Conferences

• Recording Ready: Notify immediately

Conversations (Inbox)

• Added to Conversation: Notify immediately
• Conversation Message: Notify immediately
• Conversations Created By Me: Notifications off

Discussions

• New Topic: Notifications Off
• New Reply: Daily Summary
• New Mention: Notify immediately
• Reported Reply: Notify immediately 

Groups

• Membership Update: Daily summary

Scheduling

• Student Appointment Signups: Notifications off
• Appointment Signups: Notify immediately
• Appointment Cancellations: Notify immediately
• Appointment Availability: Notify immediately
• Calendar: Notifications off

Email Notifications

You may be able to reply directly to email notifications outside of Canvas. Replies are updated in the Canvas Inbox. However, please be aware that replies will include all content in the email (such as email signatures), and attachments added as part of an external reply are not included with the message shown in Canvas.

Email Notification Allow List

For email allow list purposes, notifications will be sent from an email address ending in instructure.com. In most cases, adding the Instructure domain to the allow list is all that is required. The notification sender is displayed according to the notification context: account name, course/group name, or user name.

Several email headers show the sender details that could be used to supplement or enhance a filter that is generating bounced notifications. Canvas uses the following technologies: 

• SPF (Sender Policy Framework) allows us to specify which hosts are allowed to send mail from a given domain by adding SPF records in our DNS record. Mail servers along the way can check DNS for an SPF record to verify a message is being sent by a sanctioned host.
• A DKIM (DomainKeys Identified Mail) signature lets us sign mail with a private key, and your server validates the signature, retrieving our public key via DNS.

If required, allow lists can also be created by Internet Protocol (IP). However, this method is not recommended as the list of valid IP addresses changes periodically and requires maintenance. For a complete list of current IP addresses, please contact your Customer Success Manager and/or Implementation Consultant for assistance. 

Notification User Roles

Notification settings only apply to you; they are not used to control how course updates are sent to other users. (The only exception is the Course Content notification.) 

All active users can manage all notification settings shown in this document unless otherwise indicated. An active user is defined as a user with an active enrollment who can participate in a course. Users with concluded enrollments or who have restricted participation will not receive notifications, even if their course is an active course.

Observer Role

Users who have an Observer role within a course currently only receive notifications for actions related to the following settings:

Course Activities

• Due Date
• Grading Policies
• Course Content
• Announcement
• Grading
• Invitation
• Submission Comment

Conversations

• Conversation Message
• Conversation Created by Me

Scheduling

• Student Appointment Signups
• Appointment Signups
• Appointment Cancellations
• Calendar

Alerts

• Global Announcements

Notification Limitations

Not all notifications may be available for all communication methods.

Push Notifications

The following notification categories include limited availability for Push notifications:

Course Activities

• Due Date
• Course Content
• Announcement
• Grading
• Invitation
• Submission Comment

Conversations

• Conversation Message

Scheduling

• Student Appointment Signups
• Appointment Cancellations
• Appointment Availability
• Calendar
  

Availability is indicated by a ✢ symbol in the full Notifications description list

Notification Descriptions

This document outlines each notification, the default setting, the behavior(s) that trigger the notification, and the location of the notification. Notification locations can be any contact method set in your profile page with a notification setting, the Course Activity Stream, or both.

Note: Notification Settings do not affect notifications in the Course Activity Stream. Updates in the Course Activity Stream cannot be disabled, but users can choose not to use the Course Activity Stream where applicable, such as in the Dashboard (New Canvas UI) or Course Home Page.

Course Activities 

Due Date
Description	Assignment due date change. Due date notifications to assignment, quiz, or discussion are sent to all users, regardless of their role.
Default	Weekly

Notification Trigger	Notification Setting	Course Activity Stream
New Graded Assignment Created ✢	✔️	✔️
New Graded Quiz or Survey Created ✢	✔️	✔️
New Graded Discussion Created ✢	✔️	✔️
Assignment Changed from Non-Graded to Graded	✔️	✔️
Change in Assignment or Quiz Due Date ^✢	✔️ *	✔️ *

✢ = Supported in push notifications

Grading Policies
Description	Course grading policy change
Default	Weekly

Notification Trigger	Notification Setting	Course Activity Stream
Change in Assignment Group Grade Weight^	✔️	✖️
Change in Gradebook Total Point Method^ (Percentage/Point Value)	✔️	✖️
Default Grades Set	✖️	✖️
Curve Grades	✖️	✖️
Change in Course Grading Schemes	✖️	✖️

* = This notification will still send when the box is not checked.

^ = Email notifications for these actions will be delayed, even if the user has set their notification settings to be notified right away.

Course Content
Description	Changes to course content including page, assignment, and quiz content. When a Canvas user makes changes to assignments, quizzes, and pages, the content includes a Notify users that this content has changed checkbox.  Selecting this checkbox triggers a notification regarding the changes that have occurred within that assignment, quiz, or page.
Default	Notifications off

Notification Trigger	Notification Setting	Course Activity Stream
Edits to Pages^	✔️	✖️
Edits to Assignments^
Assignment Changed from Non-Graded to Graded	✔️	✔️ *
Assignment Title Changed	✔️	✔️
Assignment Description Changed	✔️	✔️
Point Total Changed	✔️	✔️ *
Assignment Group Changed	✔️	✔️
“Display Grade As” Changed	✔️	✔️
Submission Type Changed	✔️	✔️
Group Assignment (Y/N) Changed	✔️	✔️
Peer Reviews (Y/N) Changed	✔️	✔️
Moderated Grading Changed	✔️	✔️
Users Assigned Changed	✔️	✔️
Availability Dates Changed ✢	✔️	✔️

* = This notification will still send when the box is not checked. 

^ = Email notifications for these actions will be delayed, even if the user has set their notification settings for emails to be sent right away.

Notification Trigger	Notification Setting	Course Activity Stream
Edits to Quizzes^
Quiz Changed from Non-Graded to Graded	✔️ *	✖️
Quiz Title Changed	✔️	✔️
Quiz Description Changed	✔️	✔️
Quiz Type Changed	✔️	✖️
Quiz Assignment Group Changed	✔️	✔️
Quiz Options Changed	✔️	✔️
Quiz Restrictions Changed	✔️	✔️
Quiz Users Assigned Changed	✔️	✔️
Quiz Availability Dates Changed	✔️	✔️
Edits to Practice Quizzes	✖️	✖️
Edits to Graded Surveys^	✔️	✔️
Edits to Ungraded Surveys	✖️	✖️

* = This notification will still send when the box is not checked. 

^ = Email notifications for these actions will be delayed, even if the user has set their notification settings for emails to be sent right away.

✢ = Supported in push notifications

Files
Description	New file added to your course. Canvas will only notify you of new files in a course once they have been uploaded. Notifications will not be sent to the user who uploads the file. If an Instructor disables the Files tab within a course, students will not receive this notification.
Default	Notifications off

Notification Trigger	Notification Setting	Course Activity Stream
New File Added to Course^	✔️	✖️

Announcement
Description	New announcement in your course or group.  Instructors, TAs, and other custom instructor roles can receive notifications for course groups without being added directly to a group. To receive a notification, they must be enrolled in the course and enable the Announcement notification setting.
Default	Notify immediately

Notification Trigger	Notification Setting	Course Activity Stream
New Announcement Created ✢	✔️	✔️

^ = Email notifications for these actions will be delayed, even if the user has set their notification settings for emails to be sent right away.

✢ = Supported in push notifications

Announcement Created By You
Description	You can see what announcements you have sent in a course or group. Also, if you allow replies, a notification will be sent for announcement replies. Instructors, TAs, and other custom instructor roles can receive notifications for course groups without being added directly to a group. To receive a notification, they must be enrolled in the course and enable the Announcement Created By You notification setting.
Default	Notifications off

Notification Trigger	Notification Setting	Course Activity Stream
Announcement Created by You	✔️	✔️
Replies to Announcement You Created	✔️	✔️

Grading
Description	Grade changes in your course. Includes entering or changing a submission grade and posting assignment grades. If assignment grades are posted in the New Gradebook for all students in a course or section, only one notification will be sent.  If you want to see your grades as part of these notifications, check the Include scores when alerting about grades checkbox. This checkbox also includes a warning that if your email is not an institution email, sensitive content will be sent outside of your institution. Your institution can enable or disable this option at any time. If the Include scores checkbox is not visible in the notifications page, your institution has disabled this feature.
Default	Notify immediately
User Restrictions	Notification settings do not apply to only one course. If you are enrolled in multiple courses as a student, but you are also enrolled in a course as an instructor or equivalent role (TA, designer), please be aware that notifications from those courses will show student grades (as instructor roles do not have their own grades in such courses).

Notification Trigger	Notification Setting	Course Activity Stream
Grade is Entered for an Assignment/Submission^✢	✔️	✖️
Grade is Entered for a Quiz^	✔️	✖️
Grade is Changed for an Assignment/Submission^✢	✔️	✖️
Grade is Changed for a Quiz^	✔️	✖️
Assignment Grade is Posted	✔️	✖️

^ = Email notifications for these actions will be delayed, even if the user has set their notification settings for emails to be sent right away.

✢ = Supported in push notifications 

Invitation
Description	Includes invitations to Web Conferences, Collaborations, Groups, Peer Reviews, and Peer Review reminders. Collaborations Invitations Email notifications for Collaborations relate directly to whether you have enabled Google Drive as a registered web service. When Collaboration notifications are turned on and Google Drive is registered, the connected email address appears in the body of the invitation email; if Google Drive is not registered, the user’s default email will appear in the invitation body. When Collaboration notifications are turned off and Google Drive is registered, an email will still be sent to the connected account email address; if Google Drive is not registered, no email will be sent.
Default	Notify immediately
User Restrictions	Notifications apply to any user who is issued the invitation. However, users invited to a course in an observer role are not sent a course invitation unless they do not already have a Canvas account. Observer enrollments without a Canvas account must create an account before they can log in to the course.

Notification Trigger	Notification Setting	Course Activity Stream
Invitees are Added to a Web Conference ✢	✔️	✖️
User Invited to Join a Group	✔️	✖️
User Invited to Join a Collaboration ✢	✔️	✖️
User is Assigned a Peer Review ✢	✔️	✔️

✢ = Supported in push notifications

All Submissions
Description	Assignment (except quizzes) submission/resubmission
Default	Notifications off
User Restrictions	Applies to Instructor and Admin roles

Notification Trigger	Notification Setting	Course Activity Stream
Submission is Turned In	✔️	✖️
Quiz Submitted with Manually Graded Question	✔️	✖️
Quiz Submitted w/o Manually Graded Question	✖️	✖️
User Resubmits an Assignment	✔️	✖️
Graded Group Discussion Reply	✔️	✖️
Non-Graded Group Discussion Reply	✖️	✖️
Graded Course Discussion Reply	✔️	✖️
Non-Graded Course Discussion Reply	✖️	✖️

Late Grading
Description	Late assignment submission
Default	Daily
User Restrictions	Applies to Instructor and Admin roles

Notification Trigger	Notification Setting	Course Activity Stream
A Submission is Turned in Late	✔️	✖️

Submission Comment
Description	Assignment submission comment. Notifications include the text of the submission comment, the creator of the comment, the course, and assignment name. If annotation comments have been made anonymous, notifications are sent without the user’s name who posted the comment.
Default	Daily

Notification Trigger	Notification Setting	Course Activity Stream
Comment Added to an Assignment Submission ✢	✔️	✖️
Instructor Re-Uploads Assignment Submissions	✔️	✖️
Other User Leaves an In-Line Annotation or Comment in Submission ✢	✔️	✖️

✢ = Supported in push notifications

Blueprint Sync
Description	Content was synced from a blueprint course to associated courses. Only enabled for institutions using the Blueprint Course feature.
Default	Daily
User Restrictions	Applies to Instructor and Admin roles

Notification Trigger	Notification Setting	Course Activity Stream
Blueprint content synced to an associated course	✔️	✖️

Discussions

New Topic
Description	New discussion topic in your course
Default	Notifications off

Notification Trigger	Notification Setting	Course Activity Stream
New Discussion Topic is Created	✔️	✔️

New Reply
Description	New discussion reply in a topic you’re subscribed to
Default	Daily

Notification Trigger	Notification Setting	Course Activity Stream
A Discussion Reply is Made to a Discussion You Are Subscribed To	✔️	✔️

New Mention
Description	New mention in a discussion or announcement post.
Default	Notify immediately

Notification Trigger	Notification Setting	Course Activity Stream
New Mention in a Discussion or Announcement Post	✔️	✖️

Reported Reply
Description	New reported reply in a discussion.
Default	Notify immediately

Notification Trigger	Notification Setting	Course Activity Stream
New Reported Reply in Discussion	✔️	✖️

 

Conversations (Inbox)

Added to a Conversation
Description	You are added to a conversation in the Inbox
Default	Notify immediately
User Restrictions	Users can read and reply to Inbox messages outside of Canvas, but attachments are not included in both sent and received messages. If an incoming message includes an attachment, or an outgoing message requires an attachment, the user must view and send the message from within Canvas.

Notification Trigger	Notification Setting	Course Activity Stream
User is Added to a Conversation	✖️	✔️

Conversation Message
Description	You are sent a conversation in the Inbox
Default	Notify immediately

Notification Trigger	Notification Setting	Course Activity Stream
User Receives a Conversation Message ✢	✔️	✔️

✢ = Supported in push notifications

Conversation Created by Me
Description	You created a conversation in the Inbox
Default	Notifications off

Notification Trigger	Notification Setting	Course Activity Stream
User Sends a Conversation Message	✔️	✖️

Scheduling

Student Appointment Signups
Description	Students signed up for an appointment in Scheduler.
Default	Notifications off
User Restrictions	Applies to Instructor and Admin roles

Notification Trigger	Notification Setting	Course Activity Stream
Student Appointment Signups ✢	✔️	✖️
Removal of Student Appointment Signups ✢	✔️	✖️

✢ = Supported in push notifications

Appointment Signups
Description	A user is signed up for an appointment by another user. This notification occurs when an instructor creates an appointment group and selects the option for students to sign up in groups. After one group member makes an appointment, any other group member with this setting activated will receive a notification.
Default	Notify immediately

Notification Trigger	Notification Setting	Course Activity Stream
Group Member Reserves an Appointment	✔️	✖️

Appointment Cancellations
Description	Appointments are cancelled
Default	Notify immediately
User Restrictions	Applies to Student role

Notification Trigger	Notification Setting	Course Activity Stream
Appointment Group Deleted ✢	✔️	✖️

Notification Trigger	Notification Setting	Course Activity Stream
Appointment Deleted by Instructor ✢	✔️	✖️

✢ = Supported in push notifications

Appointment Availability
Description	Change to appointment time slots
Default	Notify immediately
User Restrictions	Applies to Student role

Notification Trigger	Notification Setting	Course Activity Stream
Appointment Group Created ✢	✔️	✖️
Time Slots Added	✔️	✖️
Appointment Unreserved	✖️	✖️

✢ = Supported in push notifications

Calendar
Description	New or changed Calendar events
Default	Notifications off

Notification Trigger	Notification Setting	Course Activity Stream
New Calendar Event Created ✢	✔️	✖️
Calendar Event Changed ✢	✔️	✖️

✢ = Supported in push notifications

Groups

Membership Updates
Description	Group enrollment, accepted/rejected membership
Default	Daily
User Restrictions	Admins also receive notifications for activated pending enrollments

Notification Trigger	Notification Setting	Course Activity Stream
User is Added to a Group	✔️	✖️
User Enrolls in a Course	✔️	✖️

Alerts

Administrative Notifications
Description	Includes accepted course enrollments, generated reports, context export, migration export, new account users, and new student groups.
Default	Daily
User Restrictions	Applies to Instructor and Admin roles

Notification Trigger	Notification Setting	Course Activity Stream
Report is Generated	✔️	✖️
Content Export	✔️	✖️
New Account User	✔️	✖️
New Student Group	✔️	✖️
Accepted Course Enrollment	✔️ *	✖️

 * = Instructors are not notified when a student self-enrolls.

Content Link Error
Description	Location and content of an invalid or broken link clicked by a student.
Default	Daily
User Restrictions	Applies to Instructor and Admin roles

Notification Trigger	Notification Setting	Course Activity Stream
Student clicks a link to unpublished content^	✔️	✖️
Student clicks a link to content with permission errors^	✔️	✖️
Student clicks a broken link^	✔️	✖️

^ = Email notifications for these actions will be delayed, even if the user has set their notification settings for emails to be sent right away.

Global Announcement
Description	Global announcement sent by admin
Default	Notify immediately

Notification Trigger	Notification Setting	Course Activity Stream
Global Announcement Sent	✔️	✖️

Conferences

Recording Ready
Description	Conference recording is ready to view.
Default	Notify immediately
User Restrictions	Applies to Instructor and Admin roles

Notification Trigger	Notification Setting	Course Activity Stream
Conference Recording is Ready	✔️	✖️

---

Last update: 2021-10-27