How do I send a message to an entire group (as a student)?

[kalyanid]

I want to send a message to all the members of a student group. Is there a way to save a group as a "contact" rather than finding each member name. 

Ex:

To: <GroupName>

Instead of:

To: <GroupMember1>, <GroupMember2>, <GroupMember3> ...

[chofer]

Hello  @kalyanid ...

I tested this out by creating a new Group within a Group Set.  Once you have students assigned to the Group, you should be able to send all group members a message via the Canvas Inbox.

1. From the Inbox, create a new message.
2. Select the name of the course where you've created the group.
3. Click the address book icon next to the "To" field.
4. Choose "Student Groups".
5. Select the name of the group that you want to send a message to.
6. Select the "All in [group name]" option which is above the student names.
7. Add subject line, body of message, and then send.

I hope this helps, Kalyani.  Please let me know if you have additional questions...or if I've misinterpreted your question.

[kalyanid]

Thanks for the reply, Chris.

I'm still unable to send a Canvas group message. After reading your instructions, I realized I probably should have clarified that I'm a student and didn't actually create the group... Sorry!

[chofer · Accepted solution]

Hi  @kalyanid ...

My apologies for that.  Yes, it looks like you are correct that the ability to send a message to all other people in your assigned group isn't as easy to do compared to if you are an instructor.  I just searched the Canvas Community website, and I found this Feature Idea that's currently open for voting: https://community.canvaslms.com/ideas/10263-enhance-student-sending-messaging-to-entire-group" modif....  If you feel that this Feature Idea accurately reflects what you'd like to be able to do in Canvas, I would encourage you to vote on it and maybe even post a comment there as to why it is important to you...so that the folks at Canvas can read your feedback.  I know this probably isn't the answer you were looking for, but I hope that the link will help to hopefully get something like this developed in the future.

[kalyanid]

Thanks for the link, Chris! I really appreciate your help, and I'll definitely vote for that feature. Also, I'm sorry for not being clear from the beginning. I hadn't realized the functionality would be different for students and teachers. I'll edit my question accordingly.

[chofer]

Hi  @kalyanid ...

I have been reviewing older questions here in the Canvas Community, and I came across this discussion thread that you and I chatted about back in December 2017.  It looks like we've resolved your question, but I wanted to check with you to be sure.  If you feel that one of the above replies has helped to answer your question, please feel free to mark it as "Correct".  But, if you are still looking for some help, please let us know by posting a message below.  I'm going to mark this question as "Assumed Answered" mainly because we've not seen any new activity in this topic for about four months.  However, that won't prevent you or others from posting additional questions and/or comments below that are related to this topic.  I hope that's algitht with you, Klyani.  Looking forward to hearing back from you soon.

[kbink · Accepted solution]

I have been recommending that students go to their group homespace by clicking on their group.  They can then click announcements and +Announcement.  What they write there will be sent to all the members of their group through each students' notification settings.

Kalli

[Manuparx]

Kbink's work-around will do the job, but it is not a solution to functionality that would be an expectation in a basic email client. If you support listing the group members for a student group, students should have the option to mail to all members of the group without having to go through an manually select each group. It impacts the adult student's perception of the level of professionalism of a course. This should be fixed.