How do I create Canvas announcements?

This wiki guide walks through creating a Canvas announcement and scheduling it to post automatically at a future date and time.

Before You Start: Preparation Checklist

• You have Teacher or NECO TA access to the Canvas course
• You know whether this announcement should post immediately or at a specific future date and time
• If this course was copied from a previous term, you’re aware that existing announcements may carry outdated posting dates that need review

Creating a New Announcement

1. In your course navigation, click Announcements.
2. Click + Announcement.
3. Enter a clear, specific Topic Title. This is the text students see in email notifications and the Announcements list, so front-load the important information (e.g., “Lab 4 Moved to Friday” rather than just “Update”).
4. Write your message in the Rich Content Editor below the title.
5. In the Post to field, leave the default of all sections, or begin typing a section name to send the announcement to a specific section only.
6. Under Options, click Attach if you want to add a file.
7. Under Options, check Delay posting if you want to schedule this announcement for later, rather than posting it right away (see the next section).
8. Under Options, check or uncheck Allow users to comment depending on whether you want students to be able to reply. This choice carries over to your next announcement in this course, so it’s worth checking each time rather than assuming the default.
9. Under Options, check Enable podcast feed only if you want this announcement included in the course’s RSS podcast feed.
10. Click Save.

Scheduling an Announcement for a Later Date (Delay Posting)

1. While creating or editing your announcement, check the Delay posting checkbox under Options.
2. A Post At field appears with a calendar picker. Choose the future date and time you want the announcement to publish.
3. Click Save. Canvas will hold the announcement and publish it automatically at the date and time you set — you don’t need to be logged in when it posts.
4. Until then, the announcement appears in your Announcements list marked as not yet posted; students won’t see it until the scheduled time arrives.

To change the schedule on an announcement you already created: open Announcements, click the announcement’s title, click Edit, adjust Delay Posting and the Post At date/time, then Save.

Troubleshooting Common Issues

Issue: Students say they didn’t get a notification for an announcement.

Solution:

1. Keep in mind that notification delivery can lag up to an hour if you made several rapid edits to the announcement after posting.
2. Confirm Delay Posting wasn’t left checked with a date that hasn’t arrived yet.
3. Remember that students control their own Canvas notification preferences (immediately, daily, weekly, or off) — this is outside your control as the instructor or TA.

Issue: The announcement posted right away even though you meant to schedule it.

Solution:

Confirm that Delay Posting was actually checked and that a future Post At date and time was set before you clicked Save. If Delay Posting is left unchecked, Canvas posts the announcement immediately.

Issue: Replies are turned on or off when you didn’t expect it.

Solution:

The Allow users to comment setting is persistent — it carries over from the last announcement you created in that course. Check or uncheck it explicitly each time rather than assuming the default.

Issue: An announcement from last term still shows an old or incorrect Post At date after copying the course.

Solution:

1. Open Announcements in the new course and review every announcement before publishing the course to students.
2. Edit each announcement and either clear Delay Posting or update the Post At date to match the new term’s schedule.
3. Do this before you publish the course, so students never see an announcement with a stale date.

Self-Check Questions

• Does my Topic Title convey the key information on its own?
• If I used headings, are they real Heading 2/Heading 3 styles applied in order, not just bold text?
• Does every link describe its destination instead of saying “click here”?
• Is any color-coded emphasis backed up with text or bold formatting?
• Do any images have alt text, and does any video or audio have accurate captions or a transcript?
• If I scheduled this announcement, is the Post At date and time correct for this term?
• Did I run the Canvas Accessibility Checker before posting?

Additional Resources

• Canvas: How do I add an announcement in a course?
• Canvas: How do I manage my Canvas notification settings?

Need Extra Support?

We are here to partner with you as you enhance your courses. If you run into technical issues or want a collaborative consultation on designing custom interactive modules, please reach out to our team: