As Canvas is a web application, users may encounter occasional errors or unexpected behaviors. This guide walks you through the basic troubleshooting steps and how to get more help when you need it. Check your Internet connection and browser. Switch to a different browser and try again. Clear your browsing history and cookies, then try again. Restart your device and try again. Contact the UIW Help Desk for technical support. Step 1: Check Your Internet Connection and Browser Internet Check Canvas needs an Internet connection to allow participation. A simple speed test can identify if a slow Internet connection is contributing to your problem. Your speed impacts content rendering on your screen, navigating between pages, downloading materials, uploading assignments, taking quizzes, playing multimedia, and participating in video calls. Browser Check A quick visit to the Canvas Browser and Computer Requirements guide informs you if the browser you're using is up to date-and supported. Take a screenshot of the results in the event you need to contact tech support. Step 2: Switch to a Different Browser As browsers behave differently, your next step is to try the action in a different browser. For example, Safari on Apple devices is known to cause more problems than Google Chrome, Firefox, or Microsoft Edge when working in Canvas. Google Chrome: Download Google Chrome and learn the basics of Google Chrome. Microsoft Edge: Download Microsoft Edge and learn the basics of Microsoft Edge. Firefox: Download Firefox and learn the basics of Firefox. Step 3: Clear Your History and Cookies When you work in a Canvas course, your browser keeps a record of your activity and saves "cookies" to improve your experience. If switching to a new browser in Step 2 worked, clearing this data can fix the browser that was giving you trouble. It's also a good idea to delete your history and cookies regularly to prevent tech trouble. Learn how to clear your web browser's cache, history, and cookies. Step 4: Restart Your Device Even though it's a standing joke, turning it off and turning it back on has some truth to it. However, rather than choosing Shut down, select the option to Restart. A computer restart stops all your computer's processes, so you can get a fresh experience to try again. Restart your Windows computer Restart your macOS computer Restart your iPhone or iPad Restart your Android device Restart your Chromebook Step 5: Contact Technical Support For assistance in completing the steps outlined here, call the UIW Help Desk during business hours. If you have completed the basic steps outlined in this article and your problem persists, it's time to get more help. Include the following details we need to investigate your issue: What type of device and browser are you using? The screenshot from the step 1 browser check. What Canvas course location are you working in? The URL for the exact location you are having an issue. What action are you taking? Describe what you are doing when you encounter your issue. What is going wrong? Describe what happens or if you get an error message. What basic troubleshooting steps have you tried already? Explain the steps you have taken to help us investigate efficiently and avoid recommending actions you've already tried. Example Help Desk Interaction Support: "What type of device and browser are you using?" Canvas user: "I'm using Chrome on a Surface running Windows 11 and my browser check states up to date." Support: "What Canvas course location are you working in?" Canvas user: "I'm working in Canvas Student Orientation. I'm having trouble with Assignment 2. Here is the link https://uiw.instructure.com/courses/29429/assignments/536096" Support: "What are you trying to do?" Canvas user: "I am dragging my file to the rocket ship to upload a file to the assignment." Support: "What is going wrong?" Canvas user: "I get an error message stating Error updating submission draft. Here is a screenshot/screen recording." Support: "What basic troubleshooting steps have you tried already?" Canvas user: "After checking my browser was up to date, I switched from Chrome to Edge and did a browser check for Edge too. Then I cleared my history and restarted my computer. I still get the same error message in both browsers after completing these steps."

Did you copy a course and don't see the correct home page in the new course? The good news is that there is nothing broken! After a course copy, instructors must set the Home page they want to replace the template with. To re-link a home page: After the course import has finished, click Pages. Click the View All Pages button to open the full index list. Locate the correct Home page in the list and click the 3-dot more menu. Select Use as Front Page. Click Home to confirm the change. Need more detail? Delve into the in-depth walkthrough below, complete with images and various notes for every step. Step 1: Copy Your Course and Open Pages Wait for the course copy process to complete before moving on. Then, click Pages in your course menu. Step 2: Open the View All Pages Index When you click Pages and the same Home page opens, this is due to it being selected as the Front page. You need to open the entire index list of Pages to change this by clicking View All Pages. Step 3: Locate the Correct Page and Open the More Menu Once you find the correct Page you want to use for Home, open the 3-dot more menu for that Page. Step 4: Select Use as Front Page From the More menu (three vertical dots), select Use as Front Page to stop the template page from showing and begin showing the page you want. To keep your course tidy, delete the one(s) you won't be using. Step 5: Confirm Your Selection Now click Home in your course menu to ensure your changes are correct. Depending on how you managed to make this change, sometimes Canvas resets the Home page differently than using the Pages Front Page. If you don't see the correct page on Home, confirm the setting by clicking Choose Home Page. Select Pages Front Page and then click Save.

The Microsoft Teams meeting menu in Canvas has a known behavior where the meeting invites sent by the instructor do not sync with the current course roster. This means that if a student is dropped from the course, any meeting invites they were previously added to will need to be manually adjusted. Conversely, if a student is added to the course, they won't see the meeting within the Microsoft Teams menu until they're added to the invite. Instead of manually adding individual students, we recommend that the instructor take advantage of the "Add Entire Class" option when scheduling the invite. If you are an instructor utilizing the "Microsoft Teams meetings" menu in Canvas and are experiencing issues, try re-syncing the invitation for the meeting. To do this: Log in to Cardinal Apps Open Canvas and access the course for which you need to edit the invitations Open Settings Select Integrations Expand the Microsoft Sync option and select Sync Now Select Microsoft Teams meetings from the Navigation Menu Select Edit next to the meeting you need to update the invitation for If prompted, choose "Edit Series" Select Add Entire Class beneath the invitee's field Select Continue to resync the invite with the roster Select Send Update Need more detail? Delve into the in-depth walkthrough below, complete with images and various notes for every step. In-Depth Walkthrough Step 1: Login and Open Canvas Log in to Cardinal Apps and launch Canvas. Step 2: Open the Course Settings Menu Navigate to the course experiencing issues with meetings from within the "Microsoft Teams meetings" menu. Once the course is open, 1) launch Settings and 2) open Integrations. Step 3: Perform a Course Sync Expand the arrow next to Microsoft Sync and select Sync Now. This will sync your current course roster with your Microsoft Course Group. Step 4: Open the Meeting Invite Now that we've synced our current course roster with Microsoft, we can update the meeting invitation from the "Microsoft Teams meetings" menu in Canvas. Launch the "Microsoft Teams meetings" menu from the course navigation menu. Next to the meeting that needs updating, select Edit. If prompted, edit the series and not just the occurrence. Step 5: Re-sync the Invitation List 1) Select the Add Entire Class option and 2) Choose Continue when prompted to replace the old invitee list with the most up-to-date course roster. In most cases, this will re-add mostly the same participants but saves the instructor time by avoiding the need to go through both the roster and send out invitations. Step 6: Send the Updated Meeting Invite To complete this troubleshooting, ensure you select Send Update when finished. This will send an updated invitation to all invited participants, ensuring every course participant has the meeting link.

If you can't see your courses in Canvas, don't worry—there are several common reasons this might be happening. Your course may not be published by the instructor yet, your enrollment may not be active, or semester dates might be restricting access. What to Do If Your Course Is Missing in Canvas Step 1: Check Enrollment In Banner Canvas receives enrollment information from Banner, which is UIW's Student Information and Registration System. The first thing to check is if you're enrolled in the course. Students can check their current enrollments by: Log in to Cardinal Apps Launch BannerWeb Self-Service Select Student Services Select Registration Select View Registration Information On the Registration page, you can view courses that you're registered for. If you do not see a course, it will not show up in Canvas. If you aren't registered, learn about registration at UIW. Step 2: Has the Semester Started? By default, courses are made available no earlier than the official start date of the semester. This means that the course will not populate on the Canvas Dashboard or be accessible to students until that date. However, some instructors may choose to open the course earlier. Contact your instructor for more information. "The Semester Has Started, but I Still Cannot See My Course" - A course in Canvas is not accessible to students until the instructor manually publishes the course. If the semester has started and you’re registered, but you still can’t access the course, contact your instructor for more information. Step 3: Check Enrollment In Canvas Courses appear in two places: the Dashboard and the All Courses list. The Dashboard is your Canvas landing page and shows active, published courses. The All Courses list includes past and future enrollments and can be accessed from the Courses menu in the sidebar. If your course isn’t on the Dashboard, check the All Courses list. You can check the All Courses list by: Log in to Cardinal Apps Open Canvas LMS Select Courses from the global navigation menu Select All Courses from the slide-out menu. The All Courses menu displays your past, present, and future enrollments. Review your courses in Canvas. If a Course Is Listed on the All Courses Page Check the published status: If the course says "No" under Published, the instructor hasn’t made it available to students yet. You won’t be able to access it until they do. Contact the instructor for assistance. If the course says "Yes" under Published, check whether it's under Past or Future Enrollments. If so, the instructor may have restricted access to the course before the start date. If it's a current enrollment, but the course is still accessible, there may be a problem with the course participation dates. Contact the instructor for clarification. If a Course Is Not Listed and You Are Enrolled in Banner Enrollment changes made by the Registrar’s Office are not instantly reflected in Canvas. Updates occur every two to three hours throughout the day. Therefore, if you've recently enrolled, check back in a few hours. If the course still doesn’t appear after that, ensure your browser is up to date. If that still does not resolve the issue, submit a Help Desk ticket for further investigation. If a Course Is Not Listed and You Are Not Enrolled in Banner You are not enrolled in the course. Key Takeaways First and foremost, you must be registered for a course in Banner before it appears in Canvas. Each course is associated with specific access dates and settings. Depending on how the instructor handles these settings, you may not yet be able to view the course. The instructor must manually publish courses before you can access them. If a course is not accessible to you in your course list, it may not be published. How Do I Contact My Instructor? Canvas has many built-in features to contact instructors of a current Canvas course. If the problem is that the course hasn't started, there are alternate methods to get in touch with an instructor. BannerWeb Self-Service When you check your current Banner registration, the courses include instructor information. Some courses in this registration menu share an email, while all provide at least the instructor's name. You can obtain the instructor's email from there. For anyone without an email listed in Banner, we recommend searching their name with UIW (e.g., "Teacher Mcteacher UIW") to find their information on the uiw.edu site. Outlook Directory Alternatively, if you know the instructor's name but not their email, you can look up their official UIW email using Outlook Online, the university's email application. To search for a name in Outlook: Log in to Cardinal Apps Open Outlook Select New Mail In the To field, type a name and select Search Directory from the drop-down menu Help Desk Support Lastly, if you’re still unable to find your instructor’s contact information in Banner or Outlook, and you’re enrolled in a course, reach out to the Help Desk. Explain the steps you’ve taken and let them know you’re seeking your instructor’s information for the course.

If you have a course that has ended but still appears on your Dashboard, it's likely missing an end date in the course settings. As a student, you cannot change this setting—it's managed by the instructor. If a course has ended but still appears on your Dashboard, you can contact your instructor to ask them to set or verify the course end date in Canvas. What is the Canvas Dashboard? Your Canvas Dashboard shows both active and favorited courses. Active Courses: Courses that are published and currently within their set start and end dates, which are controlled by the instructor or institution. Favorited Courses: Courses you've starred from the All Courses menu. Learn more about using the Canvas Dashboard effectively. If you've dropped a course and it's still appearing on your dashboard, your enrollment status may take up to 24 hours to update in Canvas.

Note: This method is not guaranteed to recover everything. Some deleted items may not appear on the restore page outlined in this guide. Canvas does not have a dedicated recycle bin or trash folder where deleted content is stored. However, instructors can use a hidden URL feature to attempt to restore recently deleted items, including quizzes, assignments, discussions, announcements, and more. How to Try and Restore Deleted Items Open your Canvas course and select Home In the browser’s address bar, add /undelete to the end of the course URL. Example: if your course URL is https://uiw.instructure.com/courses/12345 > https://uiw.instructure.com/courses/12345/undelete Look for the item(s) you want to recover. Select Restore next to each item you’d like to bring back. If prompted by a pop-up, select yes to confirm the restoration. If the item you’re trying to recover doesn’t appear, you need assistance, or isn’t restoring as expected, contact Canvas support for further investigation. Be sure to include the course name, what was deleted, and when it was removed.