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Canvas Free-for-Teacher FAQ

InstContentTeam

Welcome to the Canvas Free-for-Teacher User Group! We're glad you're here and that you want to try Canvas using a Free-for-Teacher (FFT) account.

What features are available in FFT accounts?

Free-for-Teacher accounts contain most of the basic options available in Canvas environments. Some functionality is only available to paid customers, however. View our Canvas Course Comparison PDF.

How do I get started with my FFT account?

If you don't already have an account and need to create a course, visit our Try Canvas page and select the Get a Free Canvas Account button. Complete the account information fields and you’ll be on your way!

For a walkthrough of the signup process, follow the steps in How do I sign up for a new Free-for-Teacher Canvas account as an instructor?

You can create a course any time after you complete registration. However, you must verify your email address per the email instructions to complete your registration before you are able to publish your course, use ePortfolios, or add and launch course External App (LTI) tools.

Note: As of May 26, 2026, no new Canvas Free for Teacher accounts can be created.

How do I get help with my Canvas FFT account?

The majority of your questions can be answered within the Canvas Community!

In our Q & A space, you can search to see if your question has already been asked & answered.
Use the Canvas Guides to learn about Canvas features and functionality.
In the Join Groups page, find your user role, join a group, and collaborate with like-minded individuals! We have user role groups for instructional designers, admins, and developers, and we have interest groups such as free-for-teacher.

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Comments

MarcoPorlier

Hi. I would like to know if it is possible for a student to acces to my Canvas free course or webpage just by typing my name without having a link or a code or having been put before in the course as a participant and after access to my Canvas free course or webpage, access to the content.

Thank you for your help.

Marco Porlier, marco.porlier@csspo.gouv.qc.ca

Wadeblah

It would be nice to know how to edit or remove an email address listed

Under Account > Settings > "Ways to Login" > I have two lines showing different email addresses and the organization "Free for Teacher". One of those email addresses is old an I want to edit or delete it. Sounds ordinary but I can't locate how to do this.

Kevin Meredith

Hi @MarcoPorlier, we previously included an option for a public course index, where your course would have been searchable, but that feature is no longer available for FFT users. However, you can still leverage the join codes and self-enrollment options as indicated here:

https://community.canvaslms.com/t5/Instructor-Guide/How-do-I-enable-course-self-enrollment-with-a-join-code-or/ta-p/830

Thanks!

Kevin Meredith

Hi @Wadeblah ,

Navigating to Account -> Settings as you indicate, you can delete email addresses in the top right under "Ways to Contact". If the undesired email is your default login, then you can toggle the alternate email with the star and then delete the undesired one. Thanks!

Wadeblah

@KevinMeredith

I have already deleted from the top right under "Ways to Contact". There is, and has been, only one email address there. Yet under "Ways to Log In" there are two email addresses.

I guess you have not experienced this for yourself. If only it worked as intuitively as you describe (or worked at all). Thanks for responding.

Kevin Meredith

@Wadeblah

If you want to send your account login to me via private message (you need to enable this in the community), I can help resolve this issue for you. Thanks.

EmiliaAcosta24

Hola, quisiera saber si existe algún límite de estudiantes para agregar a mi curso creado en la versión gratuita para profesores ?

Y también alguna guía de como ir agregando a estudiantes en la versión Gratuita, gracias.

EmiliaAcosta24

Hola quisiera saber si existe algún límite de estudiantes para agregar a mi curso creado en la Versión gratuita para profesores ?

Y también una Guía para agregar a estudiantes en este mismo curso de la versión Gratuita, gracias.

KnightlyScribe

@KevinMeredith I was looking for a place to submit feedback and feature requests for the FFT iteration of Canvas and couldn't find it. So I'm posting here. I'd love...

-the ability to allow/disallow student comments (on assignment submissions, etc.)

-to see the "Calendar" app updated so that I can post an event to multiple course calendars in one go (i.e. select more than one course from the drop down), and it would be nice to be able to schedule an event over multiple days with simple "from" and "to" fields instead of dealing with the whole "duplicate" process.

Thanks much for providing this resource!

HeatherSulzle

Is there any other way to have students join the class other than email?

Noah

@HeatherSulzle As far as I know, on FFT you can only add students via email.

mwil402

@Wadeblah Wondering if you ever got a solution to this problem. I am experiencing the same thing now and cannot find a way to delete the additional email from "Ways to Log In" on my account.

Frustrating.

DebraPierce

I am seeing that with the FFT account, you can only add new students by email. When they accept the invitation, create an account, and are added to the class roster, there will be no name listed next to the email? Or, what? I want to start adding students to the course, but need an answer to this ASAP. I thought not seeing a field to add the name of the student was a glitch or that i was not using the correct Add People link. How will the student appear on the student list when they are added... just the email address? So, we as instructors have to keep a listing of students handy with their email addresses in order to identify who they are on the class list? This doesn't sound right, does it?

Noah

Hi @DebraPierce ,

When your students create an account with free for teacher, it should ask them for their full name. Upon them accepting their invitation into your course, you should be able to see their full name, email and their latest activity via the people tab. You shouldn't have to do anything on their behalf.

Your students can always go into their account settings and edit their names if necessary.

Their names should appear on your people tab automatically. Is this not the case for you?

Hope this helps, feel free to reach out with anymore questions!

Amn2

hello, how are you. I want to take course and to take certificate. please show me the way how can I get this credential.

LEADTraining07

Hi! Is there a limit to the number of students I can give class access to in the Free Teacher Canvas?

Noah

@LEADTraining07

Hi! To my knowledge, there is no limit for the amount of students on FFT Canvas. I know people that have added hundreds of people with no problem.

Hope that helps!

KesueNicely

Good day. I am New and I would like to set up my class to use this platform for the coming school year in a few weeks.

Noah

Welcome @KesueNicely !

If you ever have any questions about using Free for Teacher, please let us know and we will do our best to help! I hope you enjoy using Canvas Free for Teacher!

Noah

104583422042609

Hi Community! I have an FFT account, and I'm trying to have my custom integration using the access token.

I am able to create users on my account using the API, but listing the users is not possible.

Request URL:

GET api/v1/accounts//users

Response:

Failed to create user (Status 403):
{
    "status":"unauthorized",
    "errors":[{
        "message":"user not authorized to perform that action"
     }]
}

I am not sure if its a permissions issue or not. Would really appreciate the help!

Noah

Hi there @104583422042609 ,

According to the code segment you have, it tells you that you are not authorized to add users via API, so this is a permission issue. This is likely only something available to administrators for FFT. Unfortunately, Free for Teacher only permits teachers to add their students via email, at least to my knowledge.

Jumana-Ehab

Hello!

I want to permanently delete my account