In 2022-23 there was an update to the Canvas inbox which broke some of the methods in older posts, so I thought it was worth adding a note here about how I am creating this function at the start of 2024.

I am no longer able to get my message links to specify the course. I suspect the id=course_NUMBER query pair has changed, so if anyone can set me straight on the new code, that would be great.

What I can tell you is that it is still possible to create direct links to compose a message to a specific individual in Canvas.

My link looks like this:

https://swinburne.instructure.com/conversations?user_id=1086&user_name=Wednesday%20Dessauer

the path is quite simple:

yourInstitutionCanvasURL/conversations followed by two query value pairs: user_id  & user_name both of which can be found via the people page as documented elsewhere in this thread.

Because of the course ID issue I listed at the top, the user then needs to manually select the Canvas Course, but the "To" section will be populated with the user specified above. Additionally, you can add multiple recipients by using additional &s with more user_id  & user_names added.

I hope this is of some help to others wanting to add what really should be a pretty fundamental link like "message my teacher".