Students not seeing emails when I use Course Inbox function

Question

None of the students in the course are receiving emails when we use the course Inbox function and I can not see the emails in my Canvas inbox OR Outlook even though I get the "message sent" confirmation. Please help±

Chris_Hofer · Accepted Answer

@KellyFincham ...

As a point of clarification, the Canvas Inbox is not the same as e-mail.  The Canvas Inbox is a messaging tool within the LMS (Learning Management System) to message other classmates and/or instructors in the same course(s) that you are enrolled in.  You can not send messages via the Canvas Inbox to your friends and family...most likely because they are not enrolled in those same courses that you are enrolled in.  By the same token, your friends and family cannot send you an e-mail message from their own e-mail account and expect that you'll receive it via the Canvas Inbox.  However, every user in Canvas can set up their own notification settings (via "Account" >> "Notifications") to be notified via e-mail about various things within Canvas...including if they have been sent a message via the Canvas Inbox.

Now...on to your question.  When you and your students take a look at your own Canvas user settings page via the "Accounts" >> "Settings" screen, on the right-hand side of that page, there will be an area for "Ways to Contact".  Every user has at least one e-mail address listed under there. and it should be marked with a star icon to indicate that it is set as the default e-mail address.  There are times, though, that you might also see an exclamation point icon next to the e-mail address.  This means that Canvas is having difficulties of some kind with that e-mail address.  When I worked at a College in Wisconsin as a Canvas administrator, I sometimes saw accounts that had this icon, and I would need to reach out to our assigned Customer Success Manager team at Instructure (the folks that make Canvas) to have them do something on their end to make that icon go away.  The e-mail address looked correct on our end since it was a school-issued e-mail address, but there was something that was preventing Canvas from sending out notifications to the user's e-mail address that was tied to his/her Canvas account.  That is where I would recommend starting with the issues you are experiencing.  Double-check to make sure the e-mail addresses are correct...and if the "!" icon appears next to a user's e-mail address, then there's something else going on.  Also, have a conversation with your school's IT team to see if they can be of any assistance.  And, reach out to Canvas Support to see if they have any insights for you as well.

* How do I change my default email address in my user account as an instructor? -- example of what the "!" icon looks like in the screenshots within this Guide
* How do I get help with Canvas as a student?

I hope this will help a bit.  Good luck to you!