Canvas Notifications
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, please view the Profile and User Settings guides for your user role in the Canvas Community.
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. A user who creates an assignment, quiz, or discussion will receive a notification for this action. |
|
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^ |
||
|
✔️ | ✔️ * |
|
✔️ | ✔️ |
|
✔️ | ✔️ |
|
✔️ | ✔️ * |
|
✔️ | ✔️ |
|
✔️ | ✔️ |
|
✔️ | ✔️ |
|
✔️ | ✔️ |
|
✔️ | ✔️ |
|
✔️ | ✔️ |
|
✔️ | ✔️ |
|
✔️ | ✔️ |
* = 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^ |
||
|
✔️ * | ✖️ |
|
✔️ | ✔️ |
|
✔️ | ✔️ |
|
✔️ | ✖️ |
|
✔️ | ✔️ |
|
✔️ | ✔️ |
|
✔️ | ✔️ |
|
✔️ | ✔️ |
|
✔️ | ✔️ |
|
✖️ | ✖️ |
|
✔️ | ✔️ |
|
✖️ | ✖️ |
* = 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. Only applies to courses that have the Discussions/Announcements Redesign feature preview enabled. |
|
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. Only applies to courses that have the Discussions/Announcements Redesign feature preview enabled. |
|
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
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