Inbox
The Inbox in Canvas is called Conversations and is considered a global tool. It will display ALL messages from ALL your courses. You will not have a separate inbox for each course; however, you can filter messages by course. The Canvas Inbox is connected to your VCU email account and depending on how your notifications are set a copy of each message will appear in your email account inbox.
The Inbox is split into two panels and displays messages chronologically. You can view and reply to conversations and sort them by course or inbox type. The Inbox itself does not have any file size limits; however, attachments added to a conversation are included in the sender's personal files.
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.
Notes:
- Make sure your profile notifications are defined to your preferences. For example, if you set the notification for conversation messages to ASAP, a copy of the message will display in your VCU email account (or preferred email account) when it is sent.
- In your email client (VCU email or any other account you have specified) you can respond directly to a notification message; however, please note any attachments associated with the notification messages from the Canvas Inbox will not display in email notifications in your email account. Attachments associated with Canvas conversations (inbox messages) can be viewed in the Canvas Inbox.
- If you right-click or option-click on the Inbox link, you can open your Inbox in a new browser tab to keep it handy while you are doing other tasks in Canvas.
- Users display in the Inbox once they have an active enrollment in the course, and users cannot join a course unless it is published.
- Once a course has concluded and its term date has passed, you can no longer message students in that course.
- A course has to be published in order for students to recieve messages.
When should Inbox be Used?
Use the Inbox to:
- Send a message to someone in your course or group
- Send a message to yourself (displays in your Sent folder)
- Reply to messages from others in your course
- Filter conversations by course or type
- View and reply to assignment submission comments
You can adjust your notification preferences to receive messages using external channels.
104 - Conversations Overview from Instructure Canvas Community on Vimeo.