Introduction

Canvas To Do lists contains a To Do list and other sections that help you know what assignments and events are coming up in all of your courses. The sidebar includes specific items for instructor and student roles. If you are enrolled in Canvas courses with more than one user role, your sidebar may show items for both roles. You may view this either in Card or List views in the Dashboard. This can also be accessed in the Canvas Student Mobile App.

The sidebar is similar to the sidebar displayed in your Course Home Page, but the course sidebar only includes items for the specific course. Depending on the setup of your Course Home Page, the sidebar in a course may contain additional sections than shown in the sidebar.

From a Browser

Open Dashboard

In Global Navigation, click the Dashboard link.

View Sidebar Course Items

The sidebar shows various action items in all your courses. Each item is associated with a specific course. All items from all your active courses display in the sidebar—not just favorited courses in the Dashboard.

For course identification, each sidebar item displays the course code, or short name, for the course [1]. The course code is located directly below the full course name.

Course nicknames can be set in place of sidebar course codes that are long or otherwise confusing to remember which courses they represent. If you have created a nickname for a course, the nickname displays in the sidebar instead of the course code [2]. However, the original course code always displays in the course card.

View Student Sections

The sidebar helps you see what you need to do next and what feedback you've received across all your courses. However, assignments that are not graded or do not require an online submission only display until the due date.

The To Do section shows up to seven items with due dates or event dates in the upcoming weeks, including ungraded quizzes, assignments that do not require a Canvas submission, and course announcements [1]. Each item in the To Do list displays the assignment name, the course name, the number of points, and the due date for the assignment. Once the due date has passed, items remain in this section for four weeks.

TheRecent Feedbacksection shows assignments with feedback from your instructor during the last four weeks [2].

TheView Grades button links to the Dashboard Gradespage and displays grades for all active courses [3].

Manage Sidebar Items

Each section item displays an icon to differentiate between different assignment types and other items in the To Do list [1].

If a section contains more items than can be shown, you can view all to-do items using the Show All link [2]. This link directs you to the List View Dashboard.

To remove a To Do item, click the remove icon [3].

Note: Assignments submitted through Canvas disappear automatically from the To Do list; no-submission assignments (submitted on paper/in class) can only be removed from the list manually.

From the Mobile App

Once the app is open:

On the bottom of the screen is the Global Navigation menu. Click on the To Do icon.

The To-Do List gives you a quick view of upcoming graded assignments, quizzes, and discussions that you have not yet completed. Each item is color-coordinated according to course and displays an icon for its activity type: discussion, quiz, or assignment. To-do items are organized by due date. To view a to-do item, tap the name of the item. The app will redirect to the item’s corresponding page.

Known Issue: Limited Items Displayed

The To Do list can only show a certain number of items on the list. If some items are missing, the items still exist but simply cannot be displayed on the mobile app.