Zapier Integration

[mitch2]

I would absolutely love integration with Zapier to automate certain actions. For instance if someone fills out a form or sends an email to an address she is automatically added to a certain course.

The best apps. Better together. - Zapier - Zapier

🔎 This idea has been archived. While this idea isn't open for comments, it is an important part of Instructure’s idea conversations and development process. Contributions like this are valuable as Instructure prioritizes work on new or existing features.

[Stef_retired]

 @mitch2 , this does look like a very interesting idea. Unfortunately, our feature idea process handles only ideas within the scope of Canvas--and your proposed integration sounds like something that would have to be developed by Zapier. The beauty of Canvas is that it is a learning management platform that is designed to allow other software solutions to integrate with it. Many users have success in contacting the third party vendor to initiate an integration or make changes to an existing one.

In the meantime, for Mitch and anyone else coming across this post who has interested in potential integrations, you might be interested in attending the CanvasLIVE​ event taking place on 10/20/2016: Partnerships & Platform Office Hours . If you're interested, be sure to RSVP to the event--and if you’re interested, but your schedule doesn’t allow you to attend in real time, RSVP "no" or "maybe" so you can receive any post-event updates.

[mitch2]

Hi Stefanie.

Does canvas have an API? Is the API REST or XML-RPC based?

The app must have an API

The API must be REST <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Representational_state_transfer> or XML-RPC <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/XML-RPC> based

<http://www.beatdrop.ca/>

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Mitch Lee

403.561.6530

Beat Drop

403.402.2893

1120 17 Ave SW

Calgary, AB T2T 0B4

www.beatdrop.ca <http://www.beatdrop.ca/>

[Stef_retired]

 @mitch2 , I invite you to join the Canvas Developers​ group and ask these questions there!

[Renee_Carney]

Also, you can find the REST API documentation at Canvas LMS REST API Documentation

I am going to archive this idea, for it is not in the scope of Canvas. 

Hope to see you back in the community soon, sharing what you build!!!!

[Renee_Carney]

This idea has been taken out of the Cold Storage and is opening for vote as part of the new Partner Integration ideas‌ space.  Find out more about this process in the New: Partner Integration Idea Process‌ blog post!

[jackson_t_blank]

I think integrating Zapier with Canvas would be a huge win. Zapier allows you to connect multiple services and applications to create actions. By integrating with Zapier, canvas would immediately be integrated with 750+ applications. This alone would resolve many integration requests. The developer side of Zapier is also very friendly. Here is some information about developing with Zapier. You can manage one API, iterate at any time, choose which API should be public/private, and track how popular the tool is.

Some examples of what Zapier could do for Canvas:

1. Allow students to automatically store files stored on Canvas in Dropbox.
2. Allow teachers to automatically create an OmniFocus task to review a newly submitted assignment.
3. Automatically add class discussions/announcements to OneNote.

etc...

The cool thing about Zapier is it allows the user to decide what integrations they want and how they want to use them. I have a Zapier task right now that looks for Canvas announcement notification emails, parses the email for its content, and creates a OneNote sheet in the proper section of the proper notebook with the announcement content found in the email body. That is such a specific integration that there is no way Canvas would have time to support it. By integrating with Zapier and maybe even expanding your API, you can allow students and teachers to really integrate Canvas into their every day lives the way they want to. Many integration requests could be deferred to Zapier allowing you, Canvas, to really focus on the important things your team needs to be developing.

[woodsdm2]

Here is another example of how I would use Zapier with Canvas.

I use Trello as a task management tool for all of my teaching, research and service.  Each Canvas course gives me a to-do list for grading, etc. but I find it much more useful to have everything in one place in Trello.

A Zapier integration I would use is the event of an assignment being published in a Canvas course.  A Zapier integration (they call them Zaps) that would create a Trello card to grade the assignment, with a due date a specified number of days after the assignment due date, and a Trello label matching the course would be great.

I actually do this right now, but from a Google Sheet where I add a row for each assignment for each course and have them Zapped over to Trello.  Enabling Canvas to work with Zapier would automate this - eliminating the potential that I would mis-enter data in the Google Sheet or even forget to enter a set of assignments.

One note - Zapier already has an integration with a tool called Canvas, but it's a different Canvas!

[patdura]

I think adding an Zapier integration would open the door to much simpler integration between Canvas and other systems.  I'd love it if Canvas could trigger events such as student invited to a course, student accepted an invite to a course, or student completed a course - there is so much potential here.  I've worked with other LMS' that provided this and we were able solve some very creative problems - integrating learning with gamification systems, communities, CRM, CustomerSuccess dashboards and so much more.  This is a HUGE door opening opportunity for Canvas customers and requires very little investment to "open" up Canvas to low-code or no-code integration opportunities.  Please consider this one!

[KristinL]

Our Product Team reviewed some of our oldest feature proposals recently, and this thread was identified as one that they would not be able to include in their current or future plans. While we appreciate your proposal, we also want to be transparent about the likelihood of something like this making it to production.

Thank you for collaborating, and we hope that you submit another idea in the future!