All Canvas courses are unpublished by default. This allows you to work on adding content to the course before granting access to students. Once you're done, you will need to publish your Canvas course before the quarter begins. Unpublished courses will have a pink message on the course homepage, indicating students don't have access. We recommend waiting until your course is set up and student-facing ready before publishing. 

 

Select Home Page

The Syllabus is the default home page for new Canvas courses. Instructors have the option to choose a different home page. 

 

If you’d like to choose a different home page, click the Choose Home Page button from the right-hand menu, under "Course Status".  

Home page options include Course Activity Stream, Pages Front Page, Course Modules, Assignment List or Syllabus.  Once you have selected an option, click Save.  

Publish the course

There are a number of ways to publish a course. When publishing, it will immediately publish your course and make it available to students. 

1. The first method is clicking the Publish Course button in the right-hand sidebar from the Home page.
   
2. The second option is clicking the Publish Course button within the pink banner on the Announcements page.
3. The third option is publishing a course from the course Settings.
   
4. The fourth option is publishing a course directly from the Canvas course card on the main dashboard.    

Course is Published

Once the course is published, the Course Status box will update. It will display 'Published' and the box will turn green.