What does the Canvas Inbox actually do?
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What does the Canvas inbox actually do?
I followed THESE DIRECTIONS to use the Canvas Inbox feature to try sending an email to all of my students (I did not want to use an announcement), and I selected to include myself in the recipients ("All in Econ 101"), so that I could see what the students see. It's been an hour and I never received an email.
What did that actually do? How can I email students? And I would like to cc myself on student emails, the way I could in iLearn. How does it work in Canvas?
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Official comment
Inbox is a self-contained, internal to Canvas messaging system similar to iLearn messages. It does not email students by default unless the student has configured their profile to send messages to email. This is why it is preferable to use an Announcement instead if you expect email to be generated.
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May I ask another question about Canvas messaging? Let's say I have 20 students who are in danger of being dropped because they have not completed X assignment during the Add/Drop period.
Obviously I cannot use an announcement in this scenario, because I need to speak to these 20 students alone. Does Canvas have a way for me to send one email to those 20 students? You said that Canvas does not email them by default, so is there a way for you (the AT department, or me, the instructor) to set the default in Canvas as "send messages to email"?
Or is my only option to use Outlook to email each student individually? Because that is what I have been doing, and it is very frustrating. iLearn was much easier and it allowed me to add "Dear [Student Name]" automatically. Does Canvas have any similar functionality?
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The quickmail block in iLearn was built totally in-house. There's no direct equivalent in Canvas. The messaging settings in Canvas are controlled by the individual person as part of their profile. Instructors cannot override a student's preference as to how they want to receive messages.
It's not exactly the same, but the gradebook in Canvas does have a way of sending messages based on criteria: https://community.canvaslms.com/t5/Instructor-Guide/How-do-I-send-a-message-to-students-from-the-Gradebook/ta-p/741
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There is also a way to send a message to selected students through Canvas's New Analytics feature.
That being said, is there any way Academic Technology can ... I don't know if I'm going to phrase this correctly...Can Academic Technology create an iLearn quickmail feature for the SFSU campus, similar to how you all are allowing iLearn video to live on after iLearn? Can we have some sort of easy mass student mailing feature, independent of Canvas and something this is not going to die with iLearn?
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