You're probably thinking "Great, another email system."

The Canvas Inbox (located in the upper-right hand corner of your screen) is not intended to replace your email, but functions similar to email.

Messages in your inbox are referred to as 'conversations'.

Why Use Inbox When I Already Have Email?

We are not asking you to abandon your school or institution email for communication. But for the purposes of course facilitation and delivery, the messaging system in Canvas makes it easy to manage conversations by course, by section, by group and/or by student without having to know their email address or the distribution list.

Here are some other reasons to consider using the Inbox for course-related correspondence:

You can send messages to an entire course, just a section, or a student without knowing their email addresses.
When a student emails you, you'll know exactly which course he/she is enrolled in. No more replying "Who is this?" or "Which course are you emailing about?"
Conversations are threaded and kept organized by student name. So if Cindy sent 7 separate messages last week, you will only see her name in your inbox once -- all correspondence will remain together.
You can see the profile pictures of students (assuming they have added one) when reading student messages.
Your messages can be written in text or be recorded as a video or audio directly from the new message interface.
All messages sent via the Gradebook will be archived in your Inbox.
All comments made on assignments through the Speedgrader will be archived in your Inbox.
All discussion replies made in your course or group discussions will show up in your Inbox.

The following tutorials relate to conversations:

How do I adjust my Notification Preferences for Conversations?
How do I access the Conversations Inbox?
How is my Conversations Inbox organized?
How do I find my unread messages in Conversations?
How many messages are in this Conversation?
What do comments from the SpeedGrader™ look like inside Conversations?
How do I compose a message?
How do I reply to a message in Conversations?
How can I tell which course this Conversation belongs to?
How do I send a message to an entire class?
How do I privately respond to an individual in a larger Conversation?
How do I forward a message from a Conversation?
How do I delete a Conversation?
How do I delete a message from a Conversation?
How do I unsubscribe myself from a Conversation?
How do I archive a Conversation?
How do I add new people to an existing Conversation?
How do I send a private message to an individual?
How do I send a message to multiple individuals?
How do I start a Conversation with a Student Group?
How do I manage my Conversations in high enrollment courses?
How do I delete a name from the To: field?
Where is my original message in this Conversation?
How do I attach a file to a message?
How do I attach a media comment to my message?
How do I filter Conversations?
How do I star Conversations?