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To Do List and Sidebar in the Canvas Dashboard

To Do List and Sidebar in the Canvas Dashboard

The sidebar in the Card View Dashboard and Recent Activity Dashboard displays a To Do list and other sections to help you track upcoming assignments and events across all your courses. The sidebar includes specific items for instructor and student roles. If you have multiple roles (student and instructor), the sidebar may show items for both.

The sidebar is similar to the one in each course’s Home Page, but the course sidebar only displays items for that specific course. Depending on the setup of your Course Home Page, the sidebar in a course may contain additional sections than shown in the sidebar. 

Note: You can also view items on the To Do list from the List View Dashboard. 

  1. In Global Navigation, click the Dashboard link. 

This image shows a vertical navigation menu with icons and labels for account, dashboard, courses, groups, calendar, inbox, history, and help. The dashboard option is outlined in bold red to highlight

  1. The sidebar shows various action items in all your courses. Each item is associated with a specific course. All items from all your active courses display in the sidebar—not just favorited courses in the Dashboard. 

  • For course identification, each sidebar item displays the course name or nickname [1]. 

  • To open a To Do item, click the link [2]. 

Note: If you create a nickname for a course, the nickname displays in the sidebar instead of the course name. However, the original course name and code are available in the course card in the Card View Dashboard. 

This image shows a to do list with upcoming assignments for different courses. Two items, history course titles and a position paper, are outlined in red to highlight them, and arrows point to the red outlines with black numbered labels

  1. The sidebar helps you see what you need to do next and what feedback you've received across all your courses. However, assignments that are not graded or do not require an online submission only display until the due date. 

  • The To Do section shows up to seven items with due dates or event dates in the upcoming weeks, including ungraded quizzes, assignments that do not require a Canvas submission, and course announcements [1]. Each item in the To Do list displays the assignment name, the course name, the number of points, and the due date for the assignment. Once the due date has passed, items remain in this section for four weeks. 

  • The Recent Feedback section shows assignments with feedback from your instructor or a peer during the last four weeks [2]. 

This image shows a dashboard with a to do list of assignments and announcements, each with a title and X to remove. Below is recent feedback on a reading assignment and a button to view grades

  1. Each section item displays an icon to differentiate between different assignment types and other items in the To Do list [1]. 

  • If a section contains more items than can be shown, you can view all to-do items using the Show All link [2]. This link directs you to the List View Dashboard. 

  • To remove a To Do item, click the remove icon [3]. The item(s) remain removed from the list. 

Note: Assignments submitted through Canvas disappear automatically from the To Do list; no-submission assignments (submitted on paper/in class) can only be removed from the list manually.