Canvas Release Notes (2026-04-18)

Upcoming Canvas Changes

2026-05-16

Breaking Change: LTI 1.3 Tool Configuration Schema Updates

2026-06-30

Deprecation: Removal of Legacy Login User Interface.
End of Life: Legacy Canvas Native Portfolios

For more information, please see Instructure Enforcements, Deprecations, and Breaking Changes.

Release notes outline upcoming customer-impacting changes that are expected to display in beta and/or production environments. Please note that features considered for future development are not included in the notes.

Unless otherwise stated, all features in this release are available in the Beta environment on 2026-03-16 and the Production environment on 2026-04-18.

New Features

Dashboard

Customizable Dashboard- Students

Feature Option to Enable	Customizable Dashboard for Learners See the Canvas Feature Option Summary to learn more about Feature Options.
Enable Feature Option Location & Default Status	Account (Disabled)
Subaccount Configuration	No
Account/Course Setting to Enable	None
Permissions	Inherent to user role
Affects User Interface	Yes
Affected Areas	Dashboard
Related Resources	Customizable Dashboard: Feature Overview

Summary

When the Customizable Dashboard for Learners feature option is enabled, students can use a personalized dashboard with widgets to track their progress. Features include:

Centralized Coursework Widget: View all assignments from every course in one list.
Filtering: Sort tasks by course or status (e.g., “Missing” or “Upcoming”).
Direct-to-Task Access: Open assignments or quizzes directly from the dashboard.
Updated To-Do List: See upcoming deadlines and required tasks.
Instant Grades Widget: Check overall course grades at a glance.
Recent Grades & Feedback: View teacher comments and scores without opening each course.
People Widget: Find and message instructors quickly.
Announcements Feed: New design for familiar announcements feature.
Customize Layouts: Add, remove, or rearrange widgets to highlight students’ top priorities.
Dashboard View Option: Switch between the new dashboard and classic view.

Note: The customized dashboard is currently supported only for users with a student-only role. Users with both student and non-student roles will not see this feature.

Change Benefit

Improved student experience: The updated dashboard makes it easier for students to access key course information and tools, putting assignments, grades, and announcements front-and-center.

Feature Workflow

Students can switch to the new customizable dashboard by clicking the Switch to new dashboard view button when the feature is enabled.

The student dashboard includes several tabs and widgets to help students access key course information and manage their learning:

Dashboard tab [1]: Displays various widgets for quick access to course information.
Courses tab [2]: Shows only course cards for easy navigation.
Course work widget [3]: Shows the number of assignments that are due, missing, or submitted. Students can filter by course or submission status.
Course grades widget [4]: Displays grades for each course. Use the Show all grades toggle [5] to hide or reveal grades. Click the View Gradebook link to view the course Grades page [6].
Announcements widget [7]: Displays new announcements. Students can filter by Read, Unread, or All.
People widget [8]: Lets students filter users by course or role and send Inbox messages.
Dashboard options: Students can switch back to the classic dashboard view [9] or customize the dashboard [10].
Feedback [11]: Students can share feedback on the new dashboard view.

Students can customize their dashboard by adding, moving, or removing widgets and saving their layout:

Add widget [1]: Click to add additional course information to the dashboard.
Rearrange widgets [2]: Drag widgets to different areas to organize the dashboard.
Delete widgets [3]: Remove widgets not needed on the dashboard.
Save changes [4]: Click when finished customizing to apply the dashboard layout.

Click the Add link to add widgets to the dashboard.

Feature Video

https://community.instructuremedia.com/embed/22891371-7fe0-4b69-9630-f156f7b0bf54

Embed Code:

Grades

IgniteAI Grading Assistance for SpeedGrader- Instructor

Feature Option to Enable	Performance and Usability Upgrades for SpeedGrader Enhanced Rubrics Grading Assistance See the Canvas Feature Option Summary to learn more about Feature Options.
Beta Environment Availability	2026-03-30 Note: This date falls outside the regular beta release cadence.
Enable Feature Option Location & Default Status	Performance and Usability Upgrades for SpeedGrader Account (Enabled/Locked) Course (Enabled) Enhanced Rubrics Account (Enabled/Unlocked) Course (Enabled) Grading Assistance Account (Disabled/Unlocked) Course (Disabled)
Subaccount Configuration	Yes
Account/Course Setting to Enable	None
Permissions	Inherent to user role
Affects User Interface	Yes
Affected Areas	SpeedGrader
Related Resources	IgniteAI Grading Assistance for SpeedGrader \| Product Overview

Summary

The Grading Assistance feature option lets instructors use an AI-assisted grading tool to generate scores and feedback suggestions for written assignments based on the associated rubric. To use this feature fully, the Enhanced Rubrics and Performance and Usability Upgrades for SpeedGrader feature options must also be enabled.

Note: This feature is designed to support teachers, not replace professional judgment. All AI-generated scores, feedback, and comments should be reviewed and approved by a teacher before being used or submitted.

Feature Limitations

Grading Assistance does not detect or flag inappropriate, harmful, or sensitive content.
The system has limited defenses against attempts to manipulate or bypass grading instructions.
It does not verify the accuracy of factual claims.
The legitimacy or credibility of cited sources is not evaluated.
Formatting requirements (e.g., word count, structure, citation style) are not checked.
Grades and feedback are based only on criteria explicitly stated in the rubric.
Grading Assistance is not well-suited for objective, single-correct-answer assignments.

Using Grading Assistance

Use clear, detailed rubrics.
Apply Grading Assistance primarily to text-based, essay-style assignments.
Avoid using it for quantitative or objective assignments.

Change Benefit

This feature helps instructors save time and streamline the grading process by providing AI-generated scores and feedback suggestions for written assignments. By using the associated rubric, the feature ensures feedback is aligned with assignment criteria, allowing teachers to focus on reviewing and refining feedback rather than starting from scratch.

Feature Workflow

In SpeedGrader, click the Auto-Evaluate button.

Once the evaluation is complete, the following actions occur:

Criteria selections [1]: Applied automatically based on the evaluation results.
Comments generated [2]: Review the feedback populated by the system.
Reset button [3]: Click to clear the current evaluation and begin a new one.

Note: The Reset button will replace all existing ratings and comments and cannot be undone.

Once the criteria selections and comments have been reviewed, click the Submit Assessment button.

Feature Video: Not Available

Navigation

Enhanced Accessibility Reporting- Admin, Instructor

Feature Option to Enable	Accessibility Checker See the Canvas Feature Option Summary to learn more about Feature Options.
Enable Feature Option Location & Default Status	Account (Disabled/Unlocked)
Subaccount Configuration	Yes
Account/Course Setting to Enable	None
Permissions	Inherent to user role
Affects User Interface	Yes
Affected Areas	Account Navigation, Course Accessibility
Related Resources	Accessibility Checker: Feature Overview

Summary

An Account-level accessibility dashboard is available in the account navigation, and the course-level accessibility report includes additional features:

At the course level, the report includes Announcements, Syllabi, and Discussions.
A close remediation feature allows users to mark a resource as complete, removing any remaining issues from the total counts and statistics.

Notes:

Users will need to update existing course level reports to surface additional resources.
Automatic course rescans are paused when users manually update content.
Manual updates are initiated by clicking the “Update report” button in the course-level report.

Change Benefit

Enhanced Accessibility Reporting: Provides an account-level overview of courses with active and resolved issue counts, expands resource scanning to include announcements, syllabi, and discussions, and allows users to dismiss or exclude issues and resources they do not wish to remediate.
Remediation Control: Allows users to dismiss or exclude issues and resources they do not wish to remediate.

Feature Workflow

At the Account level, click the Accessibility link to view the Accessibility Report.

A Close Remediation button displays at the end of the remediation wizard for any unresolved items.

The Close Remediation option can also be accessed through the Options icon.

Feature Video: Not Available

Rich Content Editor

Automated Captions and Interactive Transcripts for Canvas Media- Instructor, Student

Feature Option to Enable	Video Caption Generation See the Canvas Feature Option Summary to learn more about Feature Options.
Enable Feature Option Location & Default Status	Account (Disabled/Unlocked)
Subaccount Configuration	Yes
Account/Course Setting to Enable	None
Permissions	Inherent to user role
Affects User Interface	Yes
Affected Areas	Canvas Media Player, Rich Content Editor
Related Resources	Caption Generation and Interactive Rolling Transcript for Canvas: Feature Overview

Summary

Enhancements to the video experience in Canvas include Automated Captioning and Interactive Transcripts, along with improvements to media playback and caption management.

Canvas Media Captions and Transcript Features:

Automatically generated captions for supported video and audio media
Option to upload caption files
Interactive rolling transcript that syncs with video playback
Transcript editing within Canvas
Player layout options to support different viewing and transcript display configurations
Expanded full screen playback for media
Viewer restriction to control transcript visibility
Click-to-jump navigation to specific timestamps
Search functionality within the transcript
Support for multiple caption languages

Student Experience

Search for key terms in the transcript.
Click transcript text to jump to specific moments in the video.
Follow along with highlighted text as the video plays.

Change Benefit

Video Caption Generation: Automatically creates captions, removing the need to manually create or upload SRT files and ensuring all students, including those with hearing impairments or ESL learners, can access content.
Precision Studying: Searchable transcripts let students quickly find specific concepts without skimming through the entire video.
Improved Retention: Following along with highlighted transcript text while listening helps students better understand and retain lecture material.
Streamlined Caption Editing: Educators can easily correct caption errors directly in Canvas without using external text editors.

Feature Workflow

Rich Content Editor View Options on Canvas Media

Students and instructors can manage video captions using the Caption Manager with the following options:

Video Options link [1] – Click to access the Caption Manager.
Player Layout drop-down menu [2] – Select if you want to change the player layout.
Add New button [3] – Click to upload captions.
Request button [4] – Click to request automatic captioning.

Notes:

Small layouts (below 720px): The media player displays without the transcript panel in inline view.
Larger layouts (720px and above): If the Show Rolling Transcript restriction is enabled, the transcript panel can appear alongside the media.
Extra Large layout: Recommended for comfortably displaying the transcript inline.

To add captions to a video, follow these steps:

Select the Language [1]
Choose a caption file [2]
Click the Upload button [3]

To automatically generate captions, select the Language [1], then click the Request button [2].

Notes:

Caption generation may take up to 24 hours.
While captions are being generated, an Automatic caption entry displays in the list with a Processing status.
If caption generation fails, an error message displays and instructors can retry the request.
Once completed, captions are available for transcript display and caption playback.
Automated caption generation supports both video and audio media.

Instructors can control transcript visibility using the Show Rolling Transcript viewer restriction.

Notes:

When the toggle is off, the transcript panel does not appear in inline, immersive, or fullscreen playback.
When the player width exceeds 720px, the media player expands to fill the available space.
The control for immersive playback is removed.
If Hide Rolling Transcript is enabled in the Video Options tray, the transcript panel is not available in any playback view.

When captions are available, Canvas media displays an interactive rolling transcript alongside the player.

Notes:

If captions are not yet generated, a placeholder transcript may display in immersive or fullscreen playback.
The transcript panel can be shown or hidden using the sidebar icon in the media player.
Inline transcript is only available when the player width exceeds 720px.
When transcripts are available, the transcript panel can display in immersive and fullscreen views, even if it is hidden in the inline player due to layout size.

Instructors can edit transcript text directly within the transcript panel when the Rich Content Editor is in Edit mode. Editing is available inline (when space allows) or in fullscreen playback.

In Edit Transcript mode, instructors can:

Modify existing transcript text directly within the panel
Save changes automatically when moving to another transcript entry
Correct text without needing to re-upload caption files (transcript entries cannot be deleted)

Canvas media supports immersive view and fullscreen playback for a larger viewing experience.

If Hide Rolling Transcript is enabled in the Video Options tray, the transcript panel is not available in any playback view.

Feature Video: Not Available

Other Updates

Platform/Integrations

AWS CloudFront Transition- Admin

Affected Canvas Areas

Platform Performance & APIs

Affects User Interface

Related Resources

Improving Canvas Infrastructure with a Content Delivery Network (CDN)

API and CLI Change Log

Summary

Canvas updated its platform infrastructure to use AWS CloudFront (CDN). This update is fully behind the scenes with no changes to the Canvas interface or workflows, and no action is required for users.

Change Benefit

Improved Platform Performance: Enhances speed, scalability, and reliability by using a global CDN, with no expected impact for users.

Portfolio

Publish Portfolio Modal Update and Enrollment Sync Improvements- Instructor, Student

Production Environment Availability	2026-03-30 Note: This date falls outside the regular production release cadence.
Feature Option to Enable	N/A
Enable Feature Option Location & Default Status	N/A
Subaccount Configuration	Yes
Account/Course Setting to Enable	None
Permissions	Inherent to user role
Affects User Interface	No
Affected Areas	Portfolio

Summary

The Publish portfolio modal text is updated. Additionally, Evaluation Portfolios automatically sync with Canvas course enrollments, keeping learner access accurate and reducing manual management.

Learner access reflects course enrollment changes automatically.
Updated publishing guidance clarifies that enrollments sync automatically.

Change Benefit

Supports Late Enrollments Seamlessly: Learner access automatically updates when students join a course after portfolios are published.
Improves Accuracy of Dashboards and Reporting: Portfolio data reflects current course enrollments, ensuring reports are up to date.
Eliminates Manual Fixes: Changes in enrollment are applied automatically.
Enables Long-Running Portfolios: Portfolios remain accurate over extended course durations.

Feature Workflow

The Publishing portfolio modal text is updated.

Change Log

Date

Description

2026-03-30

Update

Grades: IgniteAI Grading Assistance for SpeedGrader
- Updated Beta Environment Availability date

2026-03-20

Update

Customized Dashboard
- Added Note: The customized dashboard is currently supported only for users with a student-only role. Users with both student and non-student roles will not see this feature.

Find more posts tagged with

Admin

Student

Instructor

Comments

InstContentTeam

Comments in this space are intended for collaboration between Community members. Instructure employees may review discussions and respond when possible, but responses are not guaranteed. Users are encouraged to work together by sharing use cases, best practices, questions, and clarifications.

Please keep replies threaded whenever possible to help keep conversations organized and easy to follow.

If you encounter a bug or need account-specific assistance, please contact Support, as issues reported here are not tracked or resolved.

andrew8

I enabled the customizable dashboard, but I think it may be broken. When I masqueraded as a student, I did see the button to switch to the new dashboard view but after clicking it, I was taken to the current dashboard view and no longer shown the button to switch to the new dashboard.

Naomi Petty

Hi, @andrew8 ! Tested this on my end with a fake student account and it worked on my end. Below is how it displayed after using the new view. If the issue persists, it might be worth reaching out to Canvas Support.

Naomi

ehendricks

@andrew8 based on what you described, it is likely that the New Dashboard view is not available in "View as…" mode, at least not yet.

andrew8

I was able to make it work by masquerading as a different user. I believe the user I had initially tried had at least 1 course where they were enrolled as a non-student, so I'm curious if that has something to do with it.

marthazumack

Yes, it appears that having any non-student role enrolments breaks it. I tried with my test student, had the same issue as @andrew8 , but once I deleted the other enrolments, it worked fine. This was using 'View As'.

andrew8

Hi @Naomi Petty , it seems like there might be an issue if a user has a mix of student and non-student roles. The feature does seem to be working as described for users with student roles only.

Zoe Lubitz

Hi everyone, I'm so glad to hear you're exploring the new Learner Dashboard. The feature is only available to users with student role only. Later this year, we'll be releasing new Educator and Admin dashboards that will support users with multiple roles in Canvas. Hope that helps!

InstContentTeam

Update

Customized Dashboard

-Added Note: The customized dashboard is currently supported only for users with a student-only role. Users with both student and non-student roles will not see this feature.

Anna Lindsay

Hi Andrew! You're correct - this new dashboard experience is intended for users who have only student roles. We anticipate this will evolve as other dashboard experiences progress. In case you're interested, here are a few spots to track their statuses:

Action-Oriented Educator Dashboard

Unified Canvas Insights Dashboard

marthazumack

That's great to hear!

marthazumack

Regarding the Customizable Dashboard, I find it odd that it doesn't show the To Do list by default, since that's a feature on the current dashboard. I'm not sure how much our students do use it and how much it would be missed - does anyone have data from their instance?

EmilyPector

In the Admin Accessibility Report, are we able to filter by specific term? Right now, there's an option to sort the terms in ascending/descending order, but I would love to see just this current semester, just last semester, etc. Is that an option?

snugent

For the update about rich content editor's media option, I don't see the updates in Beta. Is there a reason it is not showing in beta. I checked on the feature option page and it is turned on.

james_whalley

👎️ So many of our students have multiple roles (TA/Undergrad TA for a course or Teacher/Course Admin on a club/organization course space in Canvas). I think that designing this for only student-only users doesn't account for the vast array of Canvas use cases and will now create an inconsistent user experience. What happens when a student customizes their dashboard this semester and then gets made a TA next semester?

Anyone with a Student role should be able to select this, with the caveat that it is only designed with the student experience in mind. I hope that custom dashboards in the future account for the fact that some users have multiple roles and need to be able to customize with each of those roles in mind.

jlee16

@Zoe Lubitz The ability to choose the Learner Dashboard, the Card View, the List View, and, when it's available, the Educator Dashboard, would be optimal. The Learner Dashboard looks fantastic, but we aren't planning to share it with students because so many of them won't be able to access it due to TA appointments. Hopefully this will be feasible in a future update.

james_whalley

As a reminder, from @JamesSekcienski's message on the 3/21/26 release notes:

Reported as Potential Additional Costs to Continue to Use After the Trial/Grace Period

*Pricing is not currently available since they are using this trial/grace period to determine cost estimates related to real-world usage of these features.

IgniteAI Grading Assistance in SpeedGrader

venitk

@Zoe Lubitz something to keep in mind as you move forward with this is a lot of faculty (most? all?) in my institution are enrolled as students in at least one course. We deliver a lot of PD over Canvas, and I would imagine we're not the only ones. So they won't be able to see any feature for people who only have teacher roles. You might already be keeping that in mind, though!

Chris_Hofer

Re: the new student dashboard interface, I submitted this feedback via the "Please share your feedback!" link, but I will post it here as well. I am a Canvas admin at our college, and I was talking with my team about this new interface yesterday. This question came up: Could the new student dashboard interface be set as the "default" right away (so that students would see the new interface right away without clicking the "Switch to new dashboard view" button)? I don't see anything in the current UI in "beta" that would allow for this, but maybe this is something being considered or worked on in a future release? Thanks!

BethanReid

I wanted to ask whether there will be additional developments in the Enhanced accessibility report for admins? It's a bit disappointing that it doesn't analyse all courses so that admins have a better view of the actual issues in a course as opposed to the number of issues on courses where a staff member has actioned a report. It would also be beneficial to summarise the types of issues at account level so we can look to address these issues institutionally.

melodyc_lam

I agree with @james_whalley and also would like to add that in the K-12 space, a lot of our teachers depend on having similar access to what students see so that they can support them. It would be nice to have the ability for all users to access the student dashboard even if they aren't utilizing it daily.

jesslyn_boiscla

I'm not seeing the Grading Assistance feature in Beta. Was this delayed?

InstContentTeam

Update

Grades: IgniteAI Grading Assistance for SpeedGrader

Updated Beta Environment Availability date

p_a_hudson

First, a thank you for finally starting to look at the homepage experience. It is long overdue. I think it's a good starting point for what could potentially offer us a much more tailored experience.

We've been stuck with the same frankly awful dashboards since we moved from our old internally developed VLE that offered a much richer homepage experience than you provide. While the modular experience overall is better in Canvas. The lack of focus on the student as an individual learner has meant the dashboard has always been a step back from what we offered in our in-house VLE, pretty much from the outset in 2001. There was talk when we purchased Canvas that you were going enhance the dashboard. But the enhancements never arrived. Your current homepage is so inflexible that we still have to provide our own experience outside of Canvas. But this isn't a good experience for students, as it requires they split themselves across two systems and most importantly, isn't available as a mobile app. It would be great to bring everything into one place again. After so many fallow years, any development is welcome and I think this looks like a good first step.

Sadly, Instructure still doesn't really understand the concept of the UK 'Programme of Study'. Everything in Canvas is modular, without any overarching programme of study. This dashboard continues to focus on modular activity as distinct activities, rather than interrelated activities. The widget functionality, if it allowed us to include custom widgets that say open an LTIs, would at least be a stepping stone to a more tailored experience and to reflect things across a programme. I have previously requested if we could set an LTI as the homepage, so that we could curate our student's experience. But custom widgets would be a way of achieving some of what we want to do.

Somethings I would like to see:

There needs to be an interface (or API) that allows us to configure a default layout for student accounts and to add custom widgets.

Custom widgets to support LTIs, but also custom blocks of html, images, links etc.

It needs to work for all students, including those who have been given a staff role on an open access website. Ideally staff need an interface that's works similarly and allows us to present activities via custom APIs.

Ability to switch off widgets at account level if we don't think they work well for our context.

I think the homepage probably needs a few different layouts. For example, a banner area at the top - say for a full width widget or a 'branding' widget would be useful. (we have a timeline with all learning activities). Think Wordpress layout options.

I think you need to make sure you actively develop widgets to provide some ownership and to switch Canvas from a modular system to a personal learning system. Some widgets we had in our in-house VLE:

Targeted learning resources based on the student's programme of study

Module Activity streams (think Twitter / Facebook for things like discussions, news and content changes)

Personal Notes (personal notes could be left as 'post-it notes' on course content and you could add quick access to your homepage)

Favourites (students could create their own person bookmarks of module pages for revision - every module page has a personal tools widget that floated at the bottom and allowed students to add notes and bookmark pages)

Quick module links, sorted by academic year (not the unstructured display you currently provide)

Task Lists (including adding their own)

Personal Blog articles (and there was an option to view blogs from friends - but Wordpress does this so much better now anyway)

Files widget

Group activity widget (we allowed students to create their own groups outside of modules and they could see a activity stream of changes across their groups)

Various and Students' Union and University new feeds

Plus lots of personal customisations, such as adding images etc.

I'm not saying all of these would be useful. Toward the end of the life of our internal VLE, we stripped out many of the widgets we offered as they were very much an outdated '2001 vision' of 'portals'. But if we could add custom widgets, surfacing our learning analytics, and learner timelines would significantly enhance what we could do with Canvas. Some flexibility would be appreciated.

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