- The Course Emailer can be used to send email to an entire class or a class section using your default email client (like Outlook) instead of the built-in messaging system in Canvas.
- The Course Emailer also displays the individual email addresses of class members.
- This tool may be a good option for teaching staff who are more comfortable communicating via email or who want to keep all of their correspondence within their own email client.
Important: Emails sent to mailing lists must be sent from a user’s default email address in Canvas. The user's default email address in Canvas is the official Harvard email address unless it is changed in Canvas.
Step 1.
- Locate the Course Emailer
- Navigate to “Course Emailer” on the Course Navigation Menu.
Note: If you do not see it, you must enable the feature. Go to “Settings” on the left-hand course navigation menu, select the “Navigation” tab, locate the “Course Emailer” and enable. Click the “Save” button at the bottom of the page.
Step 2.
- Email the entire course
- Click on the blue link next to the "Course Mailing List" header.
- A window will open in the user's default email client (e.g. Outlook) with the mailing list address in the "To" field.
- Teaching staff can also copy the mailing list address that is displayed and paste it into an email.
- If you receive a bounce-back email with the subject line "Undeliverable mail," please visit our Course Emailer Troubleshooting Tips for possible solutions.
The format for this main mailing list address is canvas-xxxx@coursemail.harvard.edu where xxxx is the Canvas course ID from the course URL, e.g.: https://canvas.harvard.edu/courses/xxxx/
Step 3.
- Email a course section
- Mailing lists are created for any sections that are created with the Manage Sections tool or with the Student Information System (SIS) (e.g. My.Harvard).
- To email one of these sections, click the tab that says "Email Specific Sections." Please note this tab will only appear if the course has been sectioned.
- The Course Emailer will specify which sections have been created with Manage Sections, and which have been created with the SIS. To email a specific section, click the blue “Email” button that corresponds to that section.
- Teaching staff can also copy the mailing list address that is displayed and paste it into an email.
