Change Notifications for Individual Courses

Last updated on April 29, 2026

Notifications are messages sent by Canvas to alert you of activity in your courses. You are able to manage notification settings in two ways. One way is to click Account in the global navigation menu and set preferences that affect all of your courses. The other method is to manage notification preferences for individual courses, as described below. For example, you could choose to mute all notifications for a particular course in which you are enrolled.

Directions

Enable or Disable Notifications for a Course

1. Log in to your Canvas Account.
2. Select the Course you’d like to adjust notifications for.
3. Click Home in the course navigation menu at left.
4. Click the View Course Notifications button in the menu at the right.
5. Click the Enable Notifications toggle button at the top of the page to turn off or on all notifications for the course.
   • A green checkmark indicates that notifications are enabled for the course. An X means notifications are turned off.

Adjust Notification Preferences

1. Check that the Enable Notifications toggle button at the top of the page shows a green checkmark.
2. Click the bell icon, to the right of a course activity, under Email to adjust email notifications (to your MSU email) for that specific course activity.
3. Select your notification preference from the list of options.
   • Notify immediately: Canvas will email you as soon as the course activity occurs.
   • Daily summary: Canvas will send an email at the end of each day with all the notifications for any course activity where daily summary was selected.
   • Weekly summary: Canvas will send an email at the end of each week with all the notifications for any course activity where weekly summary was selected.
   • Notifications off: You will not receive any email notifications for that course activity.
4. Click the bell icon, to the right of a course activity, under Push Notifications to adjust push notifications for mobile devices, such as phones and tablets.
   • Note: Push notifications do not affect Email notifications. You will have to adjust your preferences for both.
5. Select your notification preference from the list of options.
   • Notify Immediately: Receive a push notification anytime the course activity occurs on any mobile device where you have the Canvas app installed, and are logged in.
     • Note: You will need allow for notifications from Canvas in your device settings.
   • Notifications Off: You will not receive any notifications on your mobile device for the course activity.
     • Note: Some course activities do not allow for Push Notifications. These will be defaulted off.