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Canvas - Simplify Your Course Navigation Menu

Canvas has many Navigation items that can be enabled or disabled depending on the needs of your course. If you organize your course Assignments, Discussions, and Quizzes into weekly Modules, you should disable those items in your course Navigation menu.

Hiding unused Navigation items ensures students only access their work through your course modules. This setup makes your course simpler to navigate, reduces students’ confusion about what tasks they may need to complete for that week, and decreases the chances of missed deadlines.

Disable Items in Your Course’s Navigation Menu

  1. Click Settings in the course Navigation menu.
  2. Click the Navigation tab at the top of your Canvas screen.
  3. Drag and drop items from the top list to the bottom list. Items in the bottom list are hidden from students.
    You can also move items to the bottom list by clicking the three vertical dots next to that item and selecting Disable.
  4. Click the yellow Save button.

Screenshot of Course Navigation Settings

Items that are hidden to students will have an eye icon to the right of item in the Navigation menu. Those items will also be disabled in the Student View.

Screenshot of Hidden Navigation Items

NOTE
You can hide the Assignments and Quizzes items in your course Navigation. However, if you do so, students will only be able to access assignments or quizzes that you add to your modules. Remember to add all graded activities to your modules and check each one is published.

Enable Items in Your Course’s Navigation Menu

The steps to make a Navigation item visible to students are similar to the steps to hide navigation items.

    1. Click Settings in the course Navigation menu.
    2. Click the Navigation tab at the top of your Canvas screen.
    3. Drag and drop items from the bottom list to the top list. Items in the top list are shown to students.
      You can also move items to the top list by clicking the three vertical dots next to that item and selecting Enable.
    4. Click the yellow Save button.

    Screenshot of Enabling a Navigation Item

    Navigation Menu Restrictions

    Our Canvas instance is part of the UW System Digital Learning Environment (DLE) and is configured to restrict some changes to the course Navigation:

    Some options must be included in the Course Navigation Menu, some cannot be added, and some can be added or removed based on the needs for teaching and learning. Menu items that must be included are referred to as fixed, and those that can be added or removed are referred to as flexible. This fixed/flexible model [is intended]:

    • to provide students with a consistent experience across courses.
    • to speed up course creation by focusing on those menu items that are most useful for students and teachers.
    • to ensure no user accidentally adds any tools that the University of Wisconsin does not support.

    Order of Navigation Items

    Navigation items will always reset to the default order listed in Canvas documentation."This allows students to have a consistent user experience from course to course depending on what tools the teacher uses. This also helps with continuity when students take courses between multiple UW System institutions."

    Disabled Navigation Items

    Some items cannot be added to the course navigation menu:

    • Conferences cannot be enabled because the UW System has an alternative contract with Zoom.
    • Files cannot be enabled due to security concerns. Keeping Files disabled also encourages students to access content consistently through the modules available on the Home page. Items stored in the Files area can be added to your course modules.


    Keywordscanvas course navigation settings   Doc ID117219
    OwnerMichael M.GroupUW Superior
    Created2022-03-08 16:55:47Updated2024-01-29 10:36:15
    SitesUW Superior
    CleanURLhttps://kb.uwsuper.edu/uwsuper/canvas-simplify-your-course-navigation-menu
    Feedback  0   0