Canvas: customize course menu

Posted in Canvas, Getting Started

Reading Time: 2 minutes

Your course menu (aka Course Navigation) is customizable for each course you teach. For instance, you may use the Discussion tool in your hybrid class, but not in your face-to-face classes. The Attendance tool might be used in face-to-face courses, but not in an online course. You can modify the Course Navigation in each Canvas site to meet your teaching needs.

Enable or disable tools on the menu

  1. From your Canvas course site, click Settings at the bottom of the left-hand course menu
  2. Choose the Navigation tab at the top of the settings page
  3. Enabled tools are listed in the top section; you can drag them down to the lower section to hide them from students
  4. Similarly, you can drag a hidden tool from the lower list to the upper list to enable it
  5. (Note: if you don’t like the drag and drop method, just click on the ⋮ vertical ellipsis icon to the right of the tool and choose disable or enable)
  6. IMPORTANT! You must scroll to the bottom of the page and click the Save button to enact your changes

If you see the hidden tool icon (eye with a slash through it) next to a menu item in your Canvas course, it means the tool is hidden from student view, for one of the reasons below:

  1. The tool is disabled from Settings (as above); or
  2. The tool is currently “empty”; for instance, you have enabled the Announcements tool, but not yet posted an announcement

Re-order the menu

  1. From your Canvas course site, click Settings at the bottom of the left-hand course menu
  2. Choose the Navigation tab at the top of the settings page
  3. In the top section, which lists enabled tools, simply drag the menu items into your preferred order
  4. IMPORTANT! You must scroll to the bottom of the page and click the Save button to enact your changes
Canvas Settings Navigation tab
This is the Navigation tab under Settings from your Canvas course menu.