What triggers course invitation emails

[Mgalbincea]

Hello, I am an LMS Admin and I was wondering here if anyone could help with a question. If I add students to a course to a course and it is unpublished do they still get an email invitation? Would it be the same for Faculty as well?

[dgrobani · Accepted solution]

How do I add users to a course? has helpful info, including this:

Users are not sent a course invitation until the course start date. (The start date is commonly the term date, unless the term is being overridden by a specific course or section date in Course Settings.) Additionally, courses must be published for students to receive course invitations.

[BethCrook]

Teachers, on the other hand, should get their invitations right away (at least they do at our school), regardless if it is published or unpublished.

[dgrobani]

@BethCrook, that seems to be the case with our institution, too. The guide saying "users" is making me wonder if I'm wrong, the guide is wrong, or if there's a nuance I've missed.

[dgrobani]

In the Notes section below the paragraph I quoted, it says "Course invitations are not sent until the course is published." That seems pretty categorical to me.

[BethCrook]

I believe it currently works the way it should.  Allowing teachers the ability to prep the course before it's published live to the students.

[dgrobani]

Exactly. The documentation seems to say otherwise.

[BethCrook]

Hey @erinhmcmillan !  How are ya doing? We may have found a discrepancy in course guides.  Who would be the person in charge of those goodies?

[erinhmcmillan]

Hi, Beth!
The bottom of the guide includes instructions about how to submit feedback. The doc team will get it and can consider the feedback for updates.
Thanks!
Erin

[jlubkinchavez]

You don't say how you're adding students, but FYI that if you add them via SIS import, others' experience and my own is that they do not get a notification. That's whether or not the course is published. See https://community.canvaslms.com/t5/Question-Forum/Are-students-emailed-a-notification-of-enrollment-... If you're adding them manually, the above comments/questions apply.