Recent Updates

  • Manual Catalog Guide
  • Canvas Catalog lets you add cascading style sheet (CSS), JavaScript (JS), or Hyper Text Markup Language (HTML) files to apply to all pages in your catalogs. You can copy the source code directly into the fields, or you can paste the URL to the external file. Host your files on a secure site, otherwise they may break when trying to load. HTML/CSS can also be used to customize a program certificate or course certificate.

    You can also upload a catalog header logo and catalog badge logo, as well as a browser favicon. For details and specifications, please view the Canvas Catalog Logo Guidelines PDF.

     

    Note: Unless a subaccount specifies its own logo/favicon, logos/favicons uploaded in the parent account apply to all sub-accounts.

    Manual Catalog Guide
  • You can manage all of your user defined fields for a catalog by managing your catalog. User defined fields display in the user registration page when a user first registers for a course or program. Information in user defined fields can only be collected as part of new user registrations; the fields do not display when existing users enroll in a course.

    When user defined fields are created in the parent catalog, the fields can automatically be applied to each subcatalog. However, you can choose to create your own user defined fields in each subcatalog. User defined fields can be exported using the Catalog API.

    Manual Catalog Guide
  • When creating or managing a catalog, you can create custom user defined fields. These fields allow you to customize your user registration beyond the default fields of Full Name and Email. Information in user defined fields can only be collected as part of new user registrations; the fields do not display when existing users enroll in a course.

    Any user defined fields in the parent catalog can automatically apply to subcatalogs. However, you can choose to create your own custom user defined fields for a subcatalog.

    Note: In subcatalogs, you cannot add a new field if the subcatalog is inheriting user defined fields from another catalog.

    Manual Catalog Guide
  • In the test environment, you can test using your real data without messing up your live production environment. Here you can add users, change the CSS, and/or troubleshoot issues without ruining the experience for your users. The test environment is overwritten with data from the production environment every three weeks. You can configure your test environment with production-ready features, such as access to your institution's login authentication system.

    If you want to keep up on the latest production features in Canvas, visit the Release Notes page in the Canvas Community.

    The test environment is separate from the beta environment, which is overwritten with data from the production environment every week and allows you to explore new features before they reach production. Learn more about the different Canvas environments.  

    Notes about the Test Environment:

    • All users can access the Canvas test environment, but students cannot access course content beyond the Course Home Page; if you are an admin and want to allow students to view all course content, please contact your Customer Success Manager.
    • Notifications, including course invitations and report downloads, cannot be sent in the test environment.
    • Crocodoc (annotation tool in SpeedGrader) 
is not available in the test environment.
    • Any changes you want to keep in the test environment must be made directly within the production environment in order to affect live data.
    • LTI tools (External Apps) are typically not available in the outside the production environment. LTI tools may display in the test environment, but often they are only configured for the production environment. Using production-configured LTI tools in the beta environment will affect live data. If you have permission to edit LTI tools, you can confirm the configuration for a specific LTI tool in your course or account. Please contact your Customer Success Manager for specific questions.
    • Account-level user page views always reflect activity from the production environment.
    • Feature option settings are never copied from production and always retain their default settings.
  • The beta environment allows you to explore new features before they reach production. The beta environment is overwritten with data from the production environment every Sunday. Any work or content you add to your beta environment will be overwritten every week.

    If you want to keep up on the latest beta features in Canvas, visit the Release Notes page in the Canvas Community.

    The beta environment is separate from the test environment, which is overwritten with data from the production environment every three weeks and allows you to test using your real data without ruining the experience for your users. Learn more about the different Canvas environments.  

    Notes about the Beta Environment:

    • All users can access the Canvas beta environment, but students cannot access course content beyond the Course Home Page; if you want to allow students to view all course content, please contact your Customer Success Manager.
    • Notifications, including course invitations and report downloads, cannot be sent in the beta environment.
    • Crocodoc (annotation tool in SpeedGrader) 
is not available in the beta environment.
    • Any changes you want to keep in the beta environment must be made directly within the production environment before beta is reset.
    • LTI tools (External Apps) are typically not available outside the production environment. LTI tools may display in the beta environment, but often they are only configured for the production environment. Using production-configured LTI tools in the beta environment will affect live data. If you have permission to edit LTI tools, you can confirm the configuration for a specific LTI tool in your course or account. Please contact your Customer Success Manager for specific questions.
    • Account-level user page views always reflect activity from the production environment.
    • Feature option settings are copied from the production environment.
  • The Help Menu assists users in your institution by displaying a list of resources about Canvas. Depending on a user's role, users can view up to five default help options. As an admin, you can reorder or hide default links in the Help Menu. You can also add custom help links for your institution and choose if they should be available to all users or specific user roles.

    You can also change the Help icon and text that displays throughout Canvas.

    This lesson shows how to access the Help Menu Options directly from the Global Navigation Menu. However, you can also access the Help Menu options in Account Settings.

    Notes:

    • Custom help links can only be viewed in Canvas web browsers. In mobile devices, the Canvas by Instructure app does not display custom help links.
    • Canvas Help Menu customizations are only available at the account level and automatically apply to all subaccounts. When opening the Help Menu, only admins can view the customization link.
    • Help Menu customizations are not available in Free-for-Teacher accounts.
    • The Help Menu links also display when a user accesses the Help link in the Login page. However, the Ask Your Instructor a Question and Ask the Community links are never part of the Help Menu in the Login page since the Login page does not associate a user by role.
  • As an Admin, you can choose to set default restrictions for student access in your institution. These restrictions include student access to courses before the start date and/or after the end date.

    To manage student access, you can set the default value but allow instructors and sub-account admins to edit access for the course and sub-account levels as necessary, or you can set and lock the student access setting for the entire institution. The checkbox settings at the account level are passed to the sub-account and course levels as default values.

    Restrict students from viewing course before start date: When a student enrolls in a future course, the course displays in the Future Enrollments section in the student Courses list. Once a course is published, the course displays an invitation to join the course, where the students can view course content at any time before the course begins. However, when the student restriction for the course start date is enabled, students cannot view a link to the course until the start date, even if the course is published.

    Restrict students from viewing future courses in enrollments list: When a student enrolls in a future course, the course displays in the Future Enrollments section in the student Courses list. However, when the view courses before the start date restriction is enabled, a second option is displayed to completely remove the future enrollment from the Courses list. This setting can also be enabled to keep students from knowing they are enrolled in a course with a future start date.

    Restrict students from viewing course after end date: Once a course has concluded, students can still view the course but all content is displayed in a read-only state. However, when the student restriction for the course end date is enabled, students can no longer view the course in the Courses list after the course has concluded. This setting can be used if your institution uses the course across multiple terms and want to restrict students from accessing prior content for future students, or if students have to re-enroll in the course.

    These restriction settings also apply to the override start and end dates for the course. If no override dates are specified, the start and end dates apply to the term dates. Learn more about term and course dates in Canvas.