I've been using Canvas's on board messaging feature to send messages to students within canvas class sections, as I have been unable to find a simple way to access canvas class lists via my campus e-mail (the student replies to go to my e-mail, however). The issue is I can't find a way to format text to underline or bold face or change font size etc. With other canvas features, there is a row of options across the top of the composition window, as with forums and e-mail programs, but there's nothing there for me with the student messaging system.

For example, I just sent my students an e-mail reminder about some important dates, and I couldn't bold face the dates (CTRL B doesn't work either). I'm assuming some setting is turned off somewhere in my composition window, but I can't figure out how to enable text formatting. Here is a screenshot of what I mean about the missing text formatting options.