Managing notifications in Canvas (for instructors)

Customize your global Canvas notification settings or course level notification preferences.

Before You Start

You need the following:

Canvas Global Notification Preferences & Recommendations

Canvas allows you to control how you are notified, when, and the frequency of notifications. You can update these settings at:
- Penn Canvas > Account > Notifications (steps for use in a web browser) or
- Canvas Teacher app top left menu > Settings (steps for iOS or steps for Android)
Each channel of communication (for instance, email and push notifications on mobile devices) can be set independently:
- To add or manage emails where your notifications are sent, go to Account > Settings and use the Ways to Contact. Text messaging (SMS) notifications for announcements may also be enabled there.
- If your Canvas notifications aren't set up appropriately before opting out of the Conversations Inbox, you may miss some messages.
- Push notifications must first be enabled in your Canvas Teacher app; once enabled, further settings can be done either via web browser or in the app.
- For best results with learning tools included in Canvas, ensure your default (starred) email in Canvas is the same as your primary email address in Penn Directory.
- Frequency options are notify immediately, daily summary, weekly summary, or notifications off. These options pertain to all current courses.
- Grades are not communicated via notifications (though availability of grades is).
We recommend that you set announcement, grading, invitation, files, submission comments, and appointment availability to notify immediately.

Account Notification Settings

You can set notification preferences by individual course, too:

To do this, open a specific course and click the View Course Notifications button on the course home page.
To override the global notification settings, set them on this page.
To disable notification for a course, deselect the Enable Notifications for [course name] under Course Notification Settings.