Customizing your Canvas Course Navigation

As an instructor, you have some options for customizing your Canvas course left-hand navigation menu. While you cannot re-name the tabs ("Assignments", "Discussions", etc.), you can reorder them and hide tabs that you do not want your students to access. This is a great way to make your Canvas course more easily navigable and direct your students to important content. Additionally, you can add external links to your left-hand navigation menu to direct students to websites or resources outside of Canvas that might be relevant to your course.

How to Reorder and Hide Tabs in Course Navigation

To reorder/hide tabs from your course navigation, click "Settings" from the menu on the left. Choose "Navigation" from the top and then drag the tabs to reorder them. You can drag items to the area at the bottom to completely hide them from students. Keep in mind that as an instructor, you will still see all tabs, but those hidden from students will appear grayed out.

For more detailed instructions on reordering and hiding tabs in your course navigation, click here.

How to Add External Links to Course Navigation

You can add your own tabs (to external websites) to the course navigation as well, by using the Redirect Tool.

1 - Install the redirect tool by going to "Settings" and then "Apps". You can search for the tool by entering the term "redirect" and clicking on the redirect app icon.

2 - Click the blue "Add App" button.

3 - Enter the name you would like displayed on the menu, as well as the URL of the external site. Select "Force open in new tab" and "Show in Course Navigation". Click the blue "Add App" button

4 - You will need to refresh the page before your new link will appear in the course navigation. You can use the "Navigation" tab in the course settings to rearrange where the button appears in your left-hand navigation menu (see How to Reorder and Hide Tabs in the Course Navigation, above).

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