Canvas Guides (English)Canvas GuidesCanvas Instructor GuideCourse NavigationHow do I use the Course Navigation Menu as an instructor?

How do I use the Course Navigation Menu as an instructor?

The Course Navigation Menu is a series of links on the left side of your course that help you and your students access different course areas. The Course Navigation Menu is always visible on its respective pages.

Depending on the structure of your course, you can choose to reorder and hide course navigation links.

Note: If you have enabled the Canvas Elementary Theme for your course, the Course Navigation Menu will display a different font.

View Course Navigation Menu

View Course Navigation Menu

The active link is highlighted with different color text and a line indicator [1]. This highlight helps you quickly identify the feature area you are currently viewing in Canvas.

Links that are hidden to students are indicated by the Visibility icon [2]. A link may be hidden to students because the feature area has no content or because the link is disabled.

The Home page is part of Course Navigation and displays the Course Home Page.

By default, new courses show links leading to the index pages for the following fourteen areas:

  • Announcements
  • Assignments
  • Discussions
  • Grades
  • People
  • Pages
  • Files
  • Syllabus
  • Outcomes
  • Quizzes
  • Modules
  • Conferences
  • Collaborations
  • Settings  

Note: Configured external (LTI
) tools may create additional Course Navigation links. However, these links do not display the visibility icon. You can disable Course Navigation links for LTI Tools in course settings, and the link will no longer display in the Course Navigation menu for you or your students.

Open Course Navigation Link

To open a feature area in Canvas, click the name of the Course Navigation link.

Collapse Course Navigation Menu

Collapse Course Navigation Menu

To expand or collapse the Course Navigation Menu, click the Menu icon. When you choose to expand or collapse it holds on to the change in all of your courses.

View Course Area

View Course Area

The Course Navigation menu will show the feature area as an active link.