My canvas is missing option to send message to all students in a course

[AliErisi]

I see that you can send all students an email by clicking "all in students" however my canvas does not have that option. I have over 100 students in my class and its a struggle to click everyone's name one by one. how can I update my canvas? is the trouble on my end? 

[Chris_Hofer]

Hi @AliErisi ...

I'm assuming that you are an instructor and that you are using the instructions indicated in this Guide:

How do I send a message to all course users in the... - Instructure Community (canvaslms.com)

I wonder if the information in the light blue box at the top of that Guide has anything to do with it?

[AliErisi]

No, sorry for the confusion. I am a student. I have this problem with every one of my classes. I never had the option of being able to click "all" for messages. 

[Thomas_Foster1]

Hi there!

In the teacher guide @Chris_Hofer posted, there is a section at the beginning that states the following:

• "Messaging all users is a course permission. If you cannot send a message to all users, your institution has restricted this feature."

What this means for you is if you do not see this option in your inbox to message all users as a student, you would need to reach out to your institution to get this changed. I have attached a screenshot highlighting this part of the guide for you.

Hope this helps!

[ericdano]

Ok, so how do you allow this then? Last year, I made groups for counselors, and they were able to email ALL people in their counseling group. Now, that is not enabled.

Where in the settings does one turn this back on???

[mzimmerman]

Hi @AliErisi 

Is the course published?  You will not be able to send a messages to students through the Inbox if the course is not published.

[AliErisi]

hey there, the course is published and I am a student of the course. I had a student friend in the past who had this option to send messages to all students at once, but I never did. I had more than 10-15 courses and this was a problem for every one of them. it makes me believe that I might be using an older version of canvas. 

[mzimmerman]

Canvas is a cloud-based service, so there is not really an "older version of Canvas".  However, each school has its own policies and settings, and not all schools allow students to send messages to all other students in the course.  You will want to contact the Help Desk at your school, since folks in this public discussion board do not have any access to your school's Canvas courses.