How do I use the Calendar?
The Calendar is a great way to view everything you have to do for all your courses in one place. You can view calendar events by day, week, month, or agenda list. The calendar also includes access to the Scheduler, which is an optional scheduling tool in Canvas.
Notes:
- If you change your language or locale preferences, the Calendar week start date may also change. Certain languages or locales change the Calendar week start date to Monday.
- Observers cannot reserve Scheduler appointments on behalf of a student.
- Observers cannot view events in a student's personal calendar or appointments reserved through the Scheduler. However, an observer can view a student's reserved appointment(s) in the Canvas Parent app.
Open Calendar
In Global Navigation, click the Calendar link.
View Calendar
The Calendar spans all courses and displays information for each of your enrolled courses and groups. In the navigation bar, you can choose to view the calendar in Week, Month, or Agenda view [1]. The view you choose dictates the style of the calendar window [2]. By default, the calendar appears in Month view.
The sidebar shows a quick-view calendar, your list of courses and groups, and undated items for your courses and groups [3].
To view the iCal feed link for exporting your Canvas calendar to other calendar apps, click the Calendar Feed link [4].
Add Calendar Items
Each calendar view shows any assignments or events that have been added to the calendar. To add to the calendar, click the Add button.
As a student, you can add events, including recurring events, and to-do items to your personal calendar at any time in the navigation bar.
As an instructor, you can add assignments and add course events, including recurring events and duplicate events for course sections. If your institution is using the Scheduler tool, you can also create Scheduler appointment groups.
All users can add add personal events.
View Calendar List
Each personal, course, and group calendar is identified by a separate color that populates the calendar view. Associated calendar items for each course or group display when selected in the calendar view [1].
By default, the first 10 course and group calendars will be selected and appear in the calendar view. To hide a calendar, click the box next to the name of the calendar [2]. Calendars that are not active within the calendar view display as faded text [3].
Note: Canvas will assign an arbitrary color for each calendar unless a custom color is chosen. Each calendar contains 15 default colors, but you can insert a Hex code to create any color of your choice. Colors set in Dashboard course cards also update in the calendar.
View Undated Events List
Expanding the Undated items link displays a list of events and assignments that are not dated. The assignments and events are differentiated by icons and by the personal, course, or group calendar color.
To assign due dates to undated items as an instructor, drag and drop them into the Calendar.
View Calendar by Month
In the Month view, click the arrow buttons [1] to move from month to month. To view events for the current date, click the Today button [2].
To view a specific date, click the month link [3] and enter a date in the date field [4] or select a date from the calendar [5].
View Assignments and Events
Calendar items display an icon next to the titles. The icon reflects the calendar item type:
- Discussion [1]
- Assignment [2]
- Quiz [3]
- Event [4]
Non-graded items with a to-do date may display in the calendar for a course.
Each item on the calendar is color-coded to match the courses or calendars in the sidebar.
To view full details for an assignment or event, hover over the item [5].
Calendar assignments can also be crossed out [6], which is a simple way to keep track of assignments. Assignments are crossed out once the assignment has been submitted. In an instructor's calendar, assignments are crossed out when the due date has passed and all submissions have been graded.
Note: Assignments that have been awarded a grade but do not contain an actual submission are not crossed out.
View All-Day Events
All-day events display the Events icon and do not include a specific event time.
If you want to extend an all-day event across multiple days, hover over the edge of the event until you see a black arrow. Drag your event across all required dates in the current month.
View Varied Due Dates
If a course has sections or individual students with varied assignment due dates, you will see the same assignment shown multiple times. Depending on the assignment setup, the assignment may appear on the same date or on multiple dates. Students will only see their specific assignment due date.
View Calendar by Week
To view the calendar by week, click the Week button. The Week view shows all calendar items by date and time.
Note: Some assignments may be due at 11:59 pm; these display at the bottom of the calendar view.
View All-Day Events
All-day events appear at the top of the calendar week. These events do not include a specific event time.
Like in the Month view, if you want to extend an all-day event across multiple days, hover over the edge of the event until you see a black arrow. Drag your event across all required dates. In Week view, you can only drag your event to the end of the week that you are viewing.
View Calendar Agenda
To view all your calendar items in an agenda format, click the Agenda button.
Find Appointments
If you are a student and your institution has enabled Scheduler appointment groups, you can sign up for an appointment in the Calendar sidebar. Click the Find Appointment button.
View Scheduler
If you are an instructor and your institution has enabled Scheduler, you can manage Scheduler events directly in each course calendar. To add an appointment group, click the Add button [1] and select the Appointment Group tab [2]. Once created, the appointment group will display in your calendar. You can view or edit groups and remove students directly from the course calendar as well.
