This article is about troubleshooting Canvas problems for students. To troubleshoot Canvas problems for instructors, see Canvas: Troubleshooting Instructor Problems 

Canvas is the primary Learning Management System used at Tufts. Canvas has extensive help documentation also available by clicking “Help” on the bottom left side of any Canvas page. Many issues can be resolved by following the instructions in the below how-to articles; for specific problems, see the table below. 

• Canvas Guides: How-to articles for using basic Canvas tools
• Canvas@Tufts FAQ: How-to articles about external tools integrated with Canvas, like TurnItIn, Echo360, Reading Lists, My Media, Media Gallery, Piazza, VoiceThread, and Box.

 

 

Login / Access Problems

You cannot log into Canvas	Canvas uses Tufts University account credentials for login - your username (e.g. jjumbo01) and your password.  If you are using your Tufts username and password but can't log in, contact it@tufts.edu.
You can log into Canvas but do not have access to a course site you are registered	Either you are not officially registered for the course or the Canvas course site is not currently published by the instructor. Log into Canvas Click "Courses" (in the left navigation panel) Click "All Courses" (at the bottom of the courses list This displays all of the courses that you are enrolled in. The far right column notes whether the course is Published or not. If the course is not published or listed, you cannot access the site. Contact the instructor and inform them that the site is not published.
You have just officially registered for a course but it is not showing up on your Dashboard	User accounts are added to Canvas course sites every eight hours. After eight hours, check Canvas again.

 

Course Calendar / Scheduler Problems

You cannot see a course calendar	You have likely de-activated your course calendar. Log into Canvas Click "Calendar" in the left navigation panel On the right side of the page is a list of all of the course calendars available to you.   Calendars that are greyed-out are inactive calendars.   To activate a course calendar, click on the small box to the left of the calendar name. The box will change color, indicating that the calendar is now active.
You cannot sign-up to an appointment group in the Scheduler tool	You have likely de-activated your course calendar. Log into Canvas Click "Calendar" in the left navigation panel On the right side of the page is a list of all of the course calendars available to you.   Calendars that are greyed-out are inactive calendars.   To activate a course calendar, click on the small box to the left of the calendar name. The box will change color, indicating that the calendar is now active.   Once the calendar is active, you can sign-up for an appointment group by clicking the "Scheduler" tab.
You want to link the calendar in Canvas to your Outlook or Google calendar	For Outlook, see: Linking Canvas to Outlook For Google calendar, see: Linking Canvas to a Google Calendar

 

Canvas profile problems

You want to add a profile picture	See: How do I add a profile picture as a Student?
You want to change your name in Canvas	Canvas dynamically uses your name in the Tufts University LDAP account listing. Name changes need to be made at the Tufts account level in the Tufts Directory. You can accomplish this by reaching out to Student Services or the Registrar. More specific instructions for name changes are here.

 

Canvas Dashboard Problems

You want to customize your Canvas Dashboard

See: How do I customize my Courses list?

 

Turnitin Problems

You want to submit a paper to Turnitin outside of Canvas

Currently, it is not possible for any user to submit a paper to the Turnitin Plagiarism detection service outside of Canvas.   We recommend that you ask the instructor to create an Turnitin assignment on one of their Canvas sites and allow you to submit via the Canvas site.

 

Canvas Group problems

You want to create a study group for a class

See: As a Student, How do I create a Study Group?