Disabling Canvas Inbox

[KarlOswald]

I know this question has been asked before (by many people), but I truly do not understand why Canvas Inbox can't be disabled. I *fully* understand that messages can be forwarded to my email but that doesn't solve the basic issues. I have SO many messages to deal with, and having one more system (even if it's forwarded) adds unnecessary work. (Note: The subject line of forwarded messages state that I've been sent a message, so I have no idea what the message is actually about.) Additionally -- and this is important -- students use very casual language, often with poor grammar, unreasonable demands, and 'text speak' with Canvas Inbox that they don't use via email. Despite my constant reminders in my syllabus and announcements, I've gotten to the point of simply not responding to messages sent from Canvas Inbox. It's baffling that I can't disable it; it adds nothing and only creates problems. (Others in my department share my frustrations and also don't use it. Without question, it should be an option.)

[Chris_Hofer]

Hello there, @KarlOswald ...

You may have seen other postings here in the Community that are related to turning off the Inbox within Canvas.  I would highly recommend that you reach out to your school's local Canvas administrator to have a discussion about this.  Your Canvas admin could then reach out to your assigned Customer Success Manager at Instructure to learn more about how the Canvas Inbox can be turned off.  This may be a setting that affects everyone at your school, or it might be able to be turned off per role type...I'm really not sure.  That would be a discussion your Canvas admin would have to have...because it could affect a large number of people at your school (students and instructors).  Also, while the Inbox may be something that is not helpful for you and for others, it may be useful to a different set of folks at your school...so these are all things to keep in mind as you have these discussions.

I hope this information will be of some help to you.  Good luck with your conversations.

[mcmaguire]

While I have always had the same issue/concern re: disabling Inbox since my first days with Canvas, your well-meaning reply characterizes another  significant foible (my opinion) with Canvas Help.....Instructure, Inc. has an inflexible, algorithm-based "Help" community, and related "Help" functions.  Voting up and down, submitting ideas, even things to, "keep in mind as (we) have discussions (about troubleshooting)."  I find Instructure, Inc.'s entrenched approach to "Help" untenable for my regular use.  Most efficient for me is to figure out my own work-arounds, and avoid Canvas "Help" altogether.  With five courses per-semester and 150-200 students per-semester, I do not have the luxury of time to vote issues up & down, propose ideas for improvement, and hope that my issue/question will make its way into Instructure, Inc.'s "Help" algorithms.

[cleander]

I actually NEED inbox disabled to allow students to take an exam in Canvas without using lockdown browsers. I want them to be able to access Canvas content - but NOT inbox screenshots of the exam to themselves. This feature needs to be something that can easily be toggled on/off.

[bciotti]

I second this.  Please let me disable the Canvas inbox.  Otherwise I have to send about a million emails telling students not to use it. 

[Chris_Hofer]

Hello @KarlOswald, @bciotti, and @mcmaguire ...

I see that a new Feature Idea was just recently created called Disconnect Student Ability to Send Email Through C... - Instructure Community.  You may want to consider adding your own feedback to this Feature Idea as well as giving it a star rating...described in this Guide:

How do idea conversations work in the Instructure Community?

Just thought I'd provide you a link to this new Feature Idea since it was just submitted yesterday.  Hope it will help in some way.

[JessicaWestfall]

It's been a while since you posted this, but your response is another non-answer. Please propose helpful responses that individuals can use. All this does is links to another post to reach out to canvas help again. This is not the hero's journey - we shouldn't end up where we started.

[Chris_Hofer]

@JessicaWestfall ...

I am sorry to read that you feel my response from October 2021 doesn't help to answer the question.  I reviewed this conversation, and I believe what I've stated still holds true.  If you read my earlier posting (above) from July 5, 2021, I indicated that turning off the Canvas Inbox is a discussion you'll need to have with your school's Canvas administrator...as your assigned Customer Success Manager team would need to be involved.  The idea that I linked to in October 2021 seems to now have a different title:

Make the Inbox an optional feature (faculty already have emails!)

To be clear, this is an idea that has been submitted by a fellow Community member, and you can subscribe (follow) to the conversation so that you'd be updated when anything changes about that idea (just click on the three dot kebab icon at the top right corner of that page, and click "Subscribe").  I understand that this idea has been out there for a couple years now, and I know it can be frustrating when ideas we submit don't get implemented quickly.  I get it.  I've been there myself with ideas I've submitted that I've wanted to see in the core Canvas product.  It sure would be nice for Instructure to be able to develop all of our ideas, but like many other companies, Instructure has a budget and a given set of resources to use.  I'd encourage you to follow the Canvas Product Roadmap - Instructure Community (canvaslms.com) to learn more about what things Instructure has coming to Canvas in the near future and beyond.

I know this might not be the answer you're looking for, but I hope it helps to clarify how things work currently in Canvas.  Take care, and be well.

[DrAJP]

This feature is very much needed. With Blackboard Learn, I could disable the inboxes for my courses. 

[checkma]

My Gmail account at my university is set up so that any email coming from an "external" account is flagged with a warning. That includes every Canvas notification I get sent. Also, Canvas reformats the message in an unattractive way. I very much want to disable the Canvas messaging system; otherwise, I have to keep telling students not to use it.

[ebonakdarian]

This so perfectly expresses my issue too that I had to double-check that this wasn't a previous post of mine (not kidding).

Seriously, I don't need yet one more communication channel, let me select what means I like to use to communicate with my students (e.g., official U e-mail). Or perhaps there's at least a Canvas auto-reply I can place that will remind students that I don't reply to Canvas e-mails?

[darren_green]

I've spotted a pattern on this before, in that Canvas clearly have no intention of allowing us to opt-out of the inbox feature and therefore keep fobbing everyone off when we request it.

I'm another person who (not wanting to engage with yet another creepy treehouse that wastes time) simply doesn't use this, and mentions so on Canvas prominently, but there's always some students who fail to notice my communications route and simply never get a reply from me.

It's all well and good forwarding, but that just means garbled messages arriving in my inbox that I cannot reply to, often with no indication of who they're from in terms of looking them up on our system.