Replying to Inbox messages via e-mail has long delay.

[PaulNagami]

I am an instructor in multiple Canvas courses. When a student sends me an Inbox message on Canvas, I receive it via e-mail. 

If I reply via e-mail, the reply will eventually show up in the message chain in Canvas Inbox. However, this can take many hours. It is unclear when the students are seeing these messages. Refreshing Inbox does not show the sent message. A few hours later, it is a toss-up as to whether the message will show.

Waiting 24 hours will cause the message to appear in my inbox as a reply, but that is far too long a delay on communication with students.

Any clarification would be appreciated--thank you!

EDIT: Example: A student messaged me at 10:19 AM via Canvas Inbox, and the message was forwarded to my e-mail. I replied to the message via e-mail at 10:47 AM. As of 1:44 PM, the reply still had not gone through, and the student sent me another message. However, if the previous patterns hold, when I check my messages tomorrow, it will have gone through then.

[chriscas · Accepted solution]

Hi @PaulNagami,

I am fairly certain that if you don't see the message in your Canvas inbox, that the student will not see it either.  Being able to reply to inbox email notifications is very fast and convenient, but I would honestly recommend that you reply from Canvas itself if there are urgent messages you need students to see ASAP.  Emails replies could be delayed for a number of reasons: the email itself being delayed in transit, the number of emails Canvas is receiving globally, etc...  With this being the beginning of the year/semester for most schools in the USA, my guess is that the volume of email has increased significantly, causing some delays as the system processes the queue of messages.  You could still reply to most messages via email as long as they aren't urgent, but for the urgent ones taking a few extra steps on your end to reply from Canvas instead of email will probably help the students out a lot!

Hope this helps!

-Chris

[PaulNagami]

I'm a bit disappointed that there's no fix that allows e-mails to Inbox to be workable as a communciation system, but it's good to get clarification! 

(I promise students I'll get back to them within 24 hours, so if I have to account for the Inbox delay, even if the message is not urgent I would have to reply within, say, 12-18 hours to be absolutely sure to get it in under the promised reply time!)

[kmoyer]

We are also experiencing this issue and are currently checking our Outlook settings to make sure that it is not something on our end. It takes a little less than 3 hours for the response to show up in the Canvas Inbox. I understand that the communications done entirely in Conversations are quick and the communications done entirely in Outlook are quick. The problem seems to be from Outlook to Canvas Conversations.

[Nancy_Webb_CCSF]

This is happening at our school too.  The only workaround if there is a time sensitive message is to directly use the inbox. This is something new, and I can't find an changes to inbox that might account for this long delay, up to 4.5 to 5 hours according to one teacher.  It doesn't seem right that there would be such a long delay when it used to be almost instant. 

I called Canvas support and the engineers agree it is because it's a busy time.  If this doesn't get better in a week or two hopefully they will look into it more.

[spurtee]

I've been having the same issue this semester.  Some messages take hours to show up in Canvas Inbox.  Others just never go through.  I assumed it was an issue with our email servers, but our OIT assures me the issue is on the Canvas end.  I've been running Canvas Inbox messages through my college email for like 10 years with hardly any issues (attachments don't always attach).  Now, all of a sudden, messages are not going through.  I hope they get it figured out soon.  

[SterlingF]

With ours (Contra Costa Community College District aka, 4CD), the message forwarding is completely broken. it never works.