The Canvas Dashboard

The Dashboard is the first thing you will see when you log into Canvas. The Dashboard helps you see what is happening in all your current courses.

You can return to your User Dashboard at any time by clicking the Dashboard link in Global Navigation.

Canvas Guides: How do I use the Dashboard as an instructor?

The Dashboard is your landing page in Canvas. Depending on your institution, your Dashboard may default to one of two views: Card View or Recent Activity View.

Card View: displays course cards for quick access to all your favorite courses (the same courses display in the Courses link from the Global Navigation Menu)
Recent Activity View: displays all recent activity for all courses

View To Do List & Sidebar

In the Card View Dashboard and the Recent Activity Dashboard, the sidebar contains a To Do list and other sections that help you know what assignments and events are coming up in all of your courses. Learn more about the dashboard sidebar.

View Global Announcement

The Dashboard may also include global announcements, which are announcements created by your institution. To remove the announcement from your dashboard, click the Remove icon.

Change Dashboard View

To change your Dashboard view, click the Options menu on the top right. You can view the Dashboard in Card View or Recent Activity View.

Course Cards

The Card View Dashboard displays course cards for all your favorite active courses. Course Cards can help you organize your courses by adding a nickname or customizing the color, which is synced with the color shown for the course in the Calendar. Depending on your institution's preference, the Card View may be your default Dashboard.

The Card View Dashboard also includes the Dashboard sidebar, which includes items in your To-Do list and includes a link to the global Grades page.

You can change your Dashboard view at any time using the Dashboard Options icon.

Favorited courses are removed from the Card View Dashboard when the course is concluded. Concluded courses that were previously favorited are still shown as favorited in the Courses list.

By default, course cards are automatically added by Canvas.

Dashboard courses are ordered alphabetically by course name and your role in the course; nicknames and course codes do not apply to course ordering. Courses with instructor roles are listed first, followed by TA roles and student roles.

Course cards may be organized by published courses and unpublished courses. To publish an unpublished course, click the Publish button.

Note: If you want to remove the default course card setting, you can customize the course list and manually select your favorite courses to display in the Dashboard. When you favorite at least one course, the Dashboard will only display favorited courses. Canvas will also continue to automatically favorite new course enrollments.

Canvas Guides: How do I view my favorite courses in the Card View Dashboard as an instructor?

Canvas Guides: How do I view my favorite courses in the Card View Dashboard as a student?

Course Card Details

Course cards show an overview of course information including the course name, course code, and term.

Each card can include up to four tabs, which represent the four main Canvas features for student course activity: Announcements, Assignments, Discussions, and Files. These tabs mimic visibility and order in Course Navigation, so for instance, if an instructor hides the Announcements link, the Announcements tab will not display on the course card.

An unread icon on the Discussions or Announcements tab indicates that there is a new discussion or announcement in the course. The number in the icon indicates the number of new items.

Create a Nickname

If one of your courses includes a long or confusing name, you can create a nickname for your course. Most courses are created using Student Information Systems (SIS) that generate course names based on terms, departments, and section numbers, and courses with similar names may be hard to distinguish.

Course nicknames appear in the Dashboard, Course Navigation Menu, course breadcrumbs, and notification emails.

A course nickname does not affect the course name at the account or course level; it only changes the name of the course for the individual user who created the nickname.

If you need to know the original name of the course, you can hover over the nickname and the original name will appear. Additionally, the course code is not affected and always displays on the course card for course reference.

Manage Nickname

To add a nickname, click the More Options icon, then type the name in the Nickname field [2]. Click the Apply button [3].

To remove a nickname, open the card options and remove the nickname. The Nickname field will display the original name of the course.

Change Course Color

Course cards can help you organize your courses by customizing the color, which is synced with the color shown for the course in the Calendar. To change the color, click the card's More Options icon, then select a new color. The check mark indicates the selected color, and the hex color code displays in the text field. If you want to use a color not shown in the window, you can enter the color's hex code directly in in the text field. The hex field will display a warning icon if the hex code is not valid. Additionally, any variation of white is not accepted as a course color.

Click the Apply button.

Note: If you change the color for a course in the Calendar, the color also updates in the Dashboard

Move Course Cards

You can also move a course card to another location in the Dashboard or remove a card from the Dashboard. Click the Options menu and select the Move tab. Depending on the placement of the existing card, you can move the card to the top of the Dashboard, ahead or behind a specific card, or to the bottom of the Dashboard.

Once a dashboard card has been reordered, new courses added to the Dashboard always display at the end of all existing courses.

To remove the course card from the Dashboard, click the Unfavorite option.

Note: The Unfavorite option only displays if you previously selected favorite courses.

Move Course Cards

You can also move a course card to another location in the Dashboard or remove a card from the Dashboard. Click the Options menu and select the Move tab. Depending on the placement of the existing card, you can move the card to the top of the Dashboard, ahead or behind a specific card, or to the bottom of the Dashboard.

Once a dashboard card has been reordered, new courses added to the dashboard always display at the end of all existing courses.

To remove the course card from the Dashboard, click the Unfavorite option.

Note: The Unfavorite option only displays if you previously selected favorite courses.

Drag and Drop Course Cards

You can also manually drag and drop a course card to another location in the Dashboard. Click on a course card and drag it to the desired location.

View Color Overlay

Some courses may include an image for the course behind the course color. By default, course cards with an image include a color overlay. To remove the color overlay from all course cards that contain an image, click the Options icon and then deselect the Color Overlay option.

Add an Image to Course Cards

Canvas Guides: How do I add an image to a course card in the Dashboard?