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Notebook for Learners | Q3 2026 | Feature Overview

Carly Steenstra

New Feature

Release Timing: Generally Available July 18, 2026 as a Feature Option, off by default, but will be ON by default on August 15.
Regional Availability: Global
Customer Type: Higher Education, K12
Available with: Canvas Core

Key Takeaway: With Notebook, institutions can provide learners with an integrated note-taking experience directly within Canvas. Notebook gives learners a centralized space to access highlights, notes, and reactions within their course experience, helping support active learning and more effective study habits.

Today, Canvas learners often rely on disconnected third-party tools or manual workflows to capture ideas and organize study materials while engaging with course content. This can create a fragmented learning experience and make it harder for learners to revisit important concepts over time.

Notebook creates a more connected learning environment for both Higher Education and K12 institutions. By giving learners an integrated place to highlight content, add personal notes, and organize learning insights by course, Notebook helps learners capture and revisit important information without leaving Canvas, making it easier to stay organized throughout the learning experience. This release also supports Instructure's 2026 initiative to simplify workflows and modernize the user experience while improving accessibility and efficiency.

Administrative Highlights:

Enablement – Notebook can be enabled by a Canvas administrator at the account level with the “Notebook” feature option.
Default Status – Off by default
- On by default on August 15
Configuration Availability – root account and subaccount level
API — GraphQL

Video Walkthrough:

https://productmarketing.instructuremedia.com/embed/cbc4a0ca-3520-4918-bd24-54c63ee6d63a

Shareable link

Change Management Resources:

Release Notes

Notebook FAQ

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Comments

Justin_Reynolds

Hi, I think this looks GREAT for our students and for those of us that are taking their own courses! I do wondering, however, if we can opt-out of the DEFAULT ON option on August 15th. Is that something our CSM can do?

Thanks for all you do Instructure!

dbrace

Hi @Justin_Reynolds,

If your institution would like to opt-out when it is initially released on Saturday, August 15th, one of your institution's Canvas admins would need to turn the item off in your (sub)account's "Feature Options" area. It is categorized in the "Account" area of "Feature Options".

account -- Feature Options -- Account -- Notebook.png

-Doug

Justin_Reynolds

Yup, I saw that too. We don't usually work on Saturday and this happens during the start of the term. We just want more time to develop training materials to support our faculty and students when we do release it. Hoping for a solution that isn't manual.

SarahBlanton

I don't mind turning it off again if we decide to go that route, but I wanted to check that the feature option will remain controllable by us (account admins) on and after August 15?

dbrace

@Justin_Reynolds / @SarahBlanton

As said in the text and in the video of this post, this new functionality (not a change to something that already exists) is being treated as:

available but disabled (and capable of being enabled by an admin) by default on Saturday, July 18, 2026
available and enabled (but capable of being disabled by an admin) by default on Saturday, August 15, 2026

This is similar to other feature options that Instructure considers to be optional for Canvas.

Related to Saturday, August 15, 2026, I understand that it becomes available on a day when (most) institutions are closed. Yes, that does mean that an admin would need to disable it before anyone sees it if they are not interested in using it as their semester/year begins.

-Doug

AKyte

Is it possible for Canvas to implement a method by which admins can indicate their preference before the feature is enabled Canvas-wide?

From 18 July, it will be available but disabled.
From 15 August, it will be available and enabled.

An account admin that decides during that period that they want to keep the feature disabled should have the option to opt out of the feature during that July-August window and ensure that it is not enabled (even if temporarily).

Given that learners may be using Canvas over that weekend, they may find the feature and start using it, even if Admins have decided that it should be disabled. This potentially creates a conflict, and it would be far preferable to give admins the agency to actively opt out of these optional features.

Justin_Reynolds

Hi, this is my sentiment exactly. The rollout itself, even if optional and not breaking, should be definable by the institution. Instructure can't possibly account for all the different school schedules. It's really hard to prepare our community without enough time to distribute materials/knowledge. Maybe this is a larger discussion and not one to be had with regards to this specific tool.

AKyte

Looking at the labels that are available ("Unclear" and "Important"), we have concerns about their suitability, particularly "Unclear".

When me and colleagues first reviewed the release notes, we felt there were multiple interpretations of "Unclear", which from a learner perspective could either mean:

"I don't understand this fully" or
"I think the author of this content wrote this is an unclear way"

Within the tool, will it be clearly indicated that these comments are private, and are not visible to other students or to tutors? If a student interprets the "Unclear" label as per version 2 above, they might believe that they are reporting something that they believe is unclear, which is not the case.

Additionally, one of our ed advisors has observed that the label 'unclear' inflicts a value judgement on the content which is weird and undesirable; alternatives such as 'learn more' or 'follow up' would be more suitable.

In terms of the planned release:

Is it/will it be possible for accounts to disable or customise the specific labels that are available?
- The "Unclear" and "Important" won't necessarily be desirable for all institutions
Will it be possible for learners to create their own labels that are useful for them?

What are the plans for expanding the feature more generally?

ellietf

@SarahBlanton

I have to third what Akyte and Justin Reynolds have said.

Default enablement of this feature means that an admin will have to spend extra time on a Saturday to put the feature in the desired state. I'd really like to either see a rollback of the default enablement in August or a way to opt out of the

Carly Steenstra

Thanks, everyone, for sharing your perspectives.

To clarify one point: the Notebook feature option will remain under administrator control after the August 15 release. If your institution isn't ready to make Notebook available at that time, account administrators can disable the feature option.

We recognize that institutions have different academic schedules and communication plans, and we know a single release date won't align perfectly for everyone. For Notebook specifically, this is intended to be a low-impact change. The feature doesn't alter existing teaching or learning workflows, and learners who choose not to use Notebook can continue using Canvas as they do today.

Carly Steenstra

Hi Justin,

Thank you so much for the feedback and the kind words!

For Notebook, we won't be offering the ability to opt out of the August "enabled by default" change. The rollout approach isn't the same for every feature; it depends on the scope of the change and its impact on day-to-day workflows.

In the case of Notebook, the feature doesn't change existing teaching or learning workflows, and learners who choose not to use it can continue using Canvas as they do today. If your institution isn't ready to make Notebook available after the August 15 release, account administrators can still disable the feature option.