Recent Updates

  • If your institution has enabled student context cards, you can click a student's name anywhere in Canvas and view a summary of the student's progress in the course. Context cards do not apply outside a course, such as in the Conversations Inbox.

    Student context cards provide insights and context about the student. Context cards are meant to be a simplified overview of a student’s progress. The context is generated from grades in the Gradebook and standard page view and participation activity in course analytics. Mobile data is not included unless a user accesses Canvas directly through a mobile browser, or if a user accesses content within the mobile app that redirects to a mobile browser.

    Context Card Users

    Context cards only apply to users with student roles; they are not supported for user names where the user is not a student (e.g. observer, TA, or other instructor). Clicking links for non-student roles will always direct to the user’s details page or profile page (if your institution has enabled the Profiles feature).

    Currently, student context cards do not display for inactive students or students with pending course invitations. The pending status displays in the People page, while the inactive status can be displayed in Discussions, Announcements, the Gradebook, and SpeedGrader.

    Context Card Link Locations

    This lesson shows how to view a context card for a student from the People page. Other areas where student names display in courses include announcement and discussion replies, the Gradebook, and the Moderate page for moderated assignments. Current exceptions include links that direct to group context (such as clicking the name of a group leader) and student links in the Course Analytics page, which link to the student’s individual analytics page.

    Note: The Student Context Card is currently an account opt-in feature. If a context card does not display for a student's name, your institution has not enabled this feature.

  • One way to configure an App for a course is by using a URL.

    To learn more about configuring external apps, visit the Edu App Center.

    Note: Configuring an external app is a course permission. If you cannot configure an external app, your institution has restricted this feature.

  • One way to configure an app for a course is by using XML.

    To learn more about configuring external apps, visit the Edu App Center.

    Note: Configuring an external app is a course permission. If you cannot configure an external app, your institution has restricted this feature.

  • You can manually configure an External App in your course. However, configuring an external app by URL is more common.

    To learn more about configuring external apps, visit the Edu App Center.

    Note: Manually configuring an external app is a course permission. If you cannot configure an external app, your institution has restricted this feature.

  • Updated on: Jun 18, 2021

    What are Assignments?

  • Canvas makes it easy to submit assignments on your mobile device by linking them from third-party apps, such as Google Drive and Dropbox.

    The images in this lesson are shown for a phone display, but unless otherwise noted, tablet displays mirror the same steps.

    Note: Before uploading an assignment to the Canvas app:

    • The assignment must already be uploaded to the third-party app
    • The third-party app must be installed on your iOS device
  • Updated on: May 17, 2021

    How do I preview a file as an observer?

    You can preview a file in a course, group, or user file storage area.

    Learn how to locate your user files, course files, and group files.

  • Updated on: May 14, 2021

    Viewing media in the Rich Content Editor