3 Main Components

Image displaying Canvas dashboard

1. Global Navigation
2. Dashboard
3. Sidebar

Global Navigation

The global navigation provides direct access to courses and other areas of Canvas, and is accessible from anywhere in Canvas. This is also where account settings and customizations are located.

You'll find direct access to your courses via the Courses link, where you can view all courses and set favorites, which will show as course cards on the dashboard.

You also find the Calendar and Inbox in the global navigation, where you can create events, see assignments in your courses, and also send messages to members of courses as well as other Canvas users.

The Dashboard

This is the first page that you'll see upon logging in to Canvas. There are two different viewing options that can be toggled using the toggle switch in the upper right corner of the dashboard:

Course Cards
Recent Activity

Course Cards shows your favorite courses as card icons on your dashboard. You will see up to 4 tabs under each course tab representing announcements, assignments, discussions, and files. Each tab will have a badge indicating the number of unseen items for that tab. Course cards can be customized using the edit button in upper right of each course card.

Course Card

Recent Activity shows all notifications for all courses in a list format. If you have no recent notifications in this view, you'll see a message that reads: No Recent Messages.

Sidebar

The Sidebar helps you see what you need to do next across all your courses, including items in your To Do list. The sidebar also includes a link to the global Grades page.