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Student Help

Announcements

Announcements are an easy and fast way to communicate with your students. The three (3) most recent announcements will be shown at the top of your course homepage by default. As long as your students have their notification preferences turned on for announcements, they will receive an email and/or mobile push notification if they have the Canvas Student app. You can click on the title of the announcement to read it in full.

recent announcement example

Create an Announcement

The easiest and fastest way to create a new announcement in your course is to click on the New Announcement button that appears on the right-hand sidebar menu on your course homepage.

new announcement button on front page highlighted in a red rectangle

You can also create a new announcement by going to your Announcements tab (1) found on the left-hand course navigation menu. Here, you can see a list of all of your announcements. You can multiple select your announcements by clicking on the check boxes (2) and either bulk (dis)allow comments or bulk delete (3) announcements. Click on the "+Announcement" button (4) to create a new announcement. Click on the three vertical dots (5) of an announcement to (dis)allow comments on it or delete it. Click on an announcement title to edit it.

announcement tab in course nav menu

When you create a new announcement, you will need to give it a title (1) and body text (2). Within the body, you can use all of the tools available in Canvas's Rich Content Editor (more info about the RCE here). Choose which section of your course you wish to post to (3). Your announcement will be posted to "All Sections" by default. If you have a cross-listed course, you can create announcements so they will only be posted to certain sections. You can attach files directly from your computer by clicking on the Browse button (4).

screenshot of creating new announcement with sections highlighted in red rectangles labeled 1-4.

Clicking on some of the options in announcements will expand for more options. You can set a specific date and time for an announcement to post, only allow users to see replies after they post a comment, enable a podcast feed, and allow "liking" on an announcement.

announcement options not checked

announcement options checked to show expanded options

Reply to Announcements

Clicking on an individual announcement will allow you to view the announcement in full and the following options:

Reply
- Opens a text box area to type with Canvas's full Rich Content Editor.
View unread replies
Show/Hide deleted comments
Collapse replies
Expand replies
Edit announcement
Dis/allow comments or Delete the announcement

Edit Number of Recent Announcements Shown

If you are the instructor a course, you can edit the number of recent announcements shown on your course homepage by going to your Course Settings. Click on the "more options" link at the bottom.

Turn off recent announcements entirely by unchecking the box to "Show recent announcements on Course home page." You can show anywhere from one (1) to fifteen (15) recent announcements on your homepage by clicking on the drop down number list (1). Disable comments entirely on all announcements by checking the "Disable comments on announcements" box (2). When you are finished, click on the Update Course Details button (3) to have any changes saved.

Instructor Guides on Announcements in Canvas

General Navigation

How do I use the Announcements Index Page?
How do I add an announcement in a course?
How do I attach a file to an announcement in a course?
How do I edit an announcement in a course?
How do I delay posting an announcement until a specific date in a course?

Replies

Direct Share

RSS Feed

Student Guides on Announcements in Canvas

General Navigation

How do I view Announcements as a student?
How do I add an announcement in a group?
How do I edit an announcement in a group?

Replies

How do I reply to an announcement as a student?
How do I like a reply in a course announcement as a student?

RSS Feed

How do I add an external RSS feed to an announcement as a student?
How do I subscribe to the Announcements RSS feed as a student?