How to Use the Inbox in Canvas to Send Messages
What is the Canvas Inbox?
The Inbox is a messaging tool used to communicate with a course, a group, an individual student, or a group of students. You can use the Inbox to communicate with other people in your course at any time.
The Canvas Inbox is not email. Depending on each user’s notification settings, they may receive an email notification delivered to their @pitt.edu email account alerting them that a message has been sent to them via the Inbox (notifications also include the text of the message, as well as the ability to reply without leaving their email). But regardless of whether or not they are receiving email notifications, messages sent through the Inbox are available for them to read and respond to from within Canvas.
When a user has new, unread Inbox messages, a badge with a number indicating the quantity of new messages will appear over the Inbox icon in their global navigation menu. So, regardless of whether or not email notifications are being received, users will always be aware that there are new messages waiting for them to read.
Sending Inbox Messages to People in Your Courses
Inbox messages can only be sent to students in published courses. If you wish to send your students an email before your course is published, we recommend that you use the “notify students” button located in your course roster in the Faculty Center (PeopleSoft).
To send an Inbox message to students, TAs, co-instructors and/or other course users:
- Click on the Inbox icon in the global navigation menu
- Click on the Compose a New Message icon at the top center of the screen.
- Use the Select course dropdown to pick the course whose users you would like to message.
- Click the Address Book icon to the right of the To field. (Alternatively, if you are messaging just a couple of people, if you begin typing their names in to the To field, they will become available to select as recipients.)
- The address book will display options to either choose all users in the course, or give access to further menus that allow you to select just certain groups, or individuals in those groups, to receive your message.
If you select any of these sub-categories of users (e.g., Teachers, Students, Student Groups), you will be able to select either All in the category, or individual users who are part of that category. If you select individual users, you may go back into the menu and select multiple recipients, or use multi-select by using CTRL- or CMD-click. - Give your message a subject in the Subject field.
- If you are sending to multiple recipients, you may check the Send an individual message to each recipient box, which would be similar to sending a BCC message in email.
- Type your message in the text box provided. You will note that there are icons for attaching a file [1] or recording/uploading multimedia [2] at the bottom left.
- When you are done composing your message, click Send.
Notification Settings for Inbox Messages
To ensure that you will be notified via email of incoming Inbox messages:
- Click on the Account icon at the top of the global navigation menu (right beneath the Pitt shield).
- Select the Notifications link from the slide-out panel.
- Scroll through your notification settings until you find the Conversations header.
- To be notified right away that you have received a new Inbox message, set your preferences for Added to Conversation and Conversation Message to the check mark icon.
Note that these are the default system settings for all Canvas users, so if you have never altered the notification settings on your account, they will already be set up in this way.
Instructor Guides on the Inbox in Canvas
General
- How do I use the Inbox as an instructor?
- How do I find my unread messages in the Inbox as an instructor?
- How do I attach a file to a message as an instructor?
- How do I attach a media comment to a message as an instructor?
- How do I forward a message from a conversation as an instructor?
- How do I add new people to an existing conversation as an instructor?
Send and Reply to Messages
- How do I send a message to a user in a course in the Inbox as an instructor?
- How do I send a message to a user in a group in the Inbox as an instructor?
- How do I send a message to all course users in the Inbox as an instructor?
- How do I privately respond to one individual in a group message as an instructor?
- How do I reply to a message in the Inbox as an instructor?
- How do I reply to submission comments in the Inbox as an instructor?
Organize Messages
Delete and Archive
- How do I delete a conversation as an instructor?
- How do I delete a message from a conversation as an instructor?
- How do I archive a conversation as an instructor?
Student Guides on the Inbox in Canvas
General
- How do I use the Inbox as a student?
- How do I find my unread messages in the Inbox as a student?
- How do I attach a file to a message as a student?
- How do I attach a media comment to a message as a student?
- How do I forward a message from a conversation as a student?
- How do I add new people to an existing conversation as a student?
Send and Reply to Messages
- How do I send a message to a user in a course in the Inbox as a student?
- How do I send a message to a user in a group in the Inbox as a student?
- How do I send a message to all course users in the Inbox as a student?
- How do I reply to a message in the Inbox as a student?
- How do I privately respond to one individual in a group message as a student?
- How do I reply to submission comments in the Inbox as a student?