Canvas releases new features and updates existing features approximately one time per month. We'll update this summary once per semester or whenever there are new features we think you might be interested in.
You can always see new release information from the Help Menu in Canvas by clicking on the Help icon and scrolling down to Release Notes.
This article covers the following topics:
Released May 2026
The Course Accessibility Checker is a Canvas course-level tool that enables instructors to identify, remediate, and validate accessibility issues across Canvas-created content. It makes it easier to insure accessibility compliance with reports, scans and built-in remediation guidance. The Course Accessibility Checker only checks content in pages and assignment instructions. It doesn't check content in Word or PDF documents.
Find the Course Accessibility Checker on the right-side menu on the course home page or in the course navigation. This is only available to Teacher roles, not to students.
For more information and a video walkthrough see the Course Accessibility Checker Feature Overview.
Enabled 7/26
Differentiation Tags are a flexible, behind-the-scenes way to personalize your Canvas course. They let you create hidden, custom student groups so you can easily tailor content, assignments and communication without creating groups.
- With them you can quickly assign specific assignments, modules, Gradebook filters, or Inbox messages to targeted audiences.
- Tags are completely invisible to students.
- Only users with the Teacher role can view and manage tags.
What's the Difference Between Groups and Tags?
- Groups are collaborative spaces with certain Canvas features and tools available. Groups are visible to students.
- Tags stay hidden and don’t create student work-spaces. They are visible to Faculty and TA/grader roles, but not to students.
How to Create and Use Tags
Creating Tags
- Select People from your course menu.
- Select Manage Tags from the Tag buttons
- Create either a single tag or a tag set with multiple options.
- Once the tags are created, select students to tag using the checkbox to the left of their name in the People menu.
- Once you've selected students, select the Tag As button to select the desired tag.
Using Tags
Use the Assign To function to make assignments, discussions, quizzes, etc. available to students with a specific tag.
For more information on using Tags see "How do I create and manage Differentiation Tags as an instructor?"
New Quizzes are now enabled by default in course settings. Now, whenever you create a quiz, you will be prompted to choose between New Quizzes or Classic Quizzes. You can continue using Classic Quizzes, but any new feature development in Canvas will only apply to New Quizzes. To learn more about New Quizzes see Introduction to New Quizzes in Canvas.
Released July 2026
As an instructor, you can add links to the Course Navigation menu by accessing Course Settings. These links can provide quick access to internal resources, external resources, and institutional tools.
See How Do I Add Custom Links to Course Navigation? for details.
Released July 2026
This tool is only available to students and is not viewable by anyone with a Teacher, TA or Non-Grading TA role. Inside any Canvas Page, students can:
- Highlight passages they want to return to
- Mark material as “important” or “unclear”
- Leave their own notes to return to later
- View all of their notes and highlights for a course in a single Notebook, accessible from the Course navigation
Instructions for Students are available at How do I use the Notebook in Canvas?