# Canvas

**Source**: https://teachwell.auckland.ac.nz/canvas/
**Parent**: https://teachwell.auckland.ac.nz/

[Canvas](https://teachwell.auckland.ac.nz/canvas/)

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1. [Home](https://teachwell.auckland.ac.nz)
 — Canvas

Canvas is the University’s Learning Management System (LMS).

## On this page

- [Canvas profile and user settings](#settings)
- [Canvas navigation menus](#navigation)
- [Rich Content Editor](#rich-content-editor)
- [Canvas Teacher App for mobile devices](#apps)
- [Support](#support)
- [Related](#see-also)

## Using Canvas

Accessing the Canvas website on a desktop or laptop with a [compatible browser](https://community.canvaslms.com/t5/Canvas-Basics-Guide/What-are-the-browser-and-computer-requirements-for-Instructure/ta-p/66) will give you the best experience, especially for complex tasks like course design and creating quizzes. Chrome, Edge, Firefox, and Safari are preferred browsers.

Canvas is integrated with the University’s Single-Sign-On. To log in to Canvas, enter your University username and password.

[Log in to Canvas](https://canvas.auckland.ac.nz/)

[Basics guides: All users](https://community.instructure.com/en/kb/canvas-lms-basics-guide)

[Instructor guides](https://community.instructure.com/en/kb/canvas-lms-instructor-guide)

[Student guides](https://community.instructure.com/en/kb/canvas-lms-student-guide)

Video playlist: Our in-house digital learning specialist, Karl McGuirk, steps us through the Canvas ‘must knows’. This video is presented in Panopto: staff login required.

## Canvas profile and user settings

Canvas Profile displays a user’s information such as name, email, bio, personal pronouns, and profile picture. Users can edit it anytime and it’s visible to other users in their courses. Canvas User Settings allows users to customise their Canvas experience by adjusting settings such as notifications, language preferences, time zone, and privacy settings.

- [Basics guide: Manage your notification settings](https://community.instructure.com/en/kb/articles/662894-how-do-i-manage-my-canvas-notification-settings)
- [Add your pronouns to Canvas](https://www.auckland.ac.nz/en/students/student-support/personal-support/rainbow-students/adding-your-personal-pronouns-to-canvas.html)

[Basics guides: Profile settings](https://community.instructure.com/en/kb/articles/662765-what-are-profile-settings)

## Canvas navigation

Canvas has two main navigation menus:

1. The **global navigation** is located on the left margin of every page in Canvas. Links in this menu are:
   - Account (your profile and user settings)
   - Admin (only visible to admin users)
   - Dashboard (an overview of your current courses)
   - Courses (all courses that you have access to)
   - Groups (the course groups that you belong to)
   - Calendar (upcoming assignments and events)
   - Inbox (collated course announcements)
   - History (your page view history)
   - Commons (import content into your course from other users)
   - Help (Canvas support options)
2. The **course navigation menu** is available from within a course and is located to the right of the global navigation menu. This menu is course-specific. If you have a teacher-based role in a course, you can choose which of the features and tools are visible and reorder the links to create navigation appropriate for your course.

[Basics guides: Global navigation](https://community.instructure.com/en/kb/articles/662861-how-do-i-use-the-global-navigation-menu)

[Instructor guides: Course navigation](https://community.instructure.com/en/kb/articles/660739-how-do-i-use-the-course-home-page-as-an-instructor)

## Rich Content Editor (RCE)

The RCE is a tool for editing content and is available via: Announcements, Assignments, Discussions, New Quizzes, Pages, Quizzes, and Syllabus.

The Editor toolbar—grouped by common icons and interactions—is used to add text and images, audio, video, math formulae or H5P content.

Video: Canvas tutorial – rich text editor

[Basics guides: Rich Content Editor](https://community.instructure.com/en/kb/articles/662908-how-do-i-access-the-rich-content-editor)

## Canvas Teacher App for mobile devices

Canvas Teacher allows teachers to facilitate their courses on the go, both inside and outside the classroom. Canvas Teacher is available for both Android and iOS devices:

[Canvas guides for Android mobile app](https://community.instructure.com/en/kb/canvas_mobile-app-android-guide)

[Canvas guides for iOS mobile app](https://community.instructure.com/en/kb/canvas_mobile-app-ios-guide)

## Support

Check out our [learning technology support](https://teachwell.auckland.ac.nz/support/learning-technologies/learning-technology-support/#canvas) page to find out what options are available for Canvas.

## On this page

- [Canvas profile and user settings](#settings)
- [Canvas navigation menus](#navigation)
- [Rich Content Editor](#rich-content-editor)
- [Canvas Teacher App for mobile devices](#apps)
- [Support](#support)

## Related

- [UDOIT accessibility assistant for Canvas](https://teachwell.auckland.ac.nz/learning-technologies/udoit/)

*Page updated 03/09/2025 (minor edit)*