Publish Canvas Course Tutorial

Don’t forget to publish your Canvas course!  Listed below is a step-by-step walkthrough of the process to publish a course.  We have also made a Publish Canvas Course Tutorial video available.  *Note: Please enlarge Canvas dashboard screen to ensure all visuals are visible.  

Publish a Course

To publish a course, click the Publish button in the right hand sidebar from the home page.  The Publish button will appear green.

Figure 1: Publish Course

Course Status Notification on Home page

If a course is unpublished you’ll see a pink notification message on the homepage indicating that the course is not published.  You can click the “Publish Course” button to immediately publish your course and make it available to students. Alternately, you may also click the Publish button in the right hand sidebar from the homepage to publish your course.

Figure 2: Course Notification on Home page- Publish Course Button

Syllabus- Default Home page for All New Courses

The syllabus now replaces modules as the default home page for all new courses.

Figure 3: Syllabus Default Home page

Modify Default Home Page

If you’d like to modify the Default Home Page, please navigate to the right side bar from the home screen and click on ‘Choose Home Page,’ under Course Status.  

Figure 4: Modify Course Home Page

Default Home Page Options

Once “Choose Home Page” is selected, you’ll be presented with a couple options.  They are: Course Activity Stream, Pages Front Page, Course Modules, Assignment List or Syllabus.  If you’re unsure which option to select, please click on the associated link to learn more about each option. Once you select an option, click ‘Choose and Publish.’  Please note that if you don’t select an option and click “Choose and Publish” the default view will be Syllabus.

Figure 5: Default Home Page Options

Once your course has been published, the “Published” button will appear green and you’ll receive a View Confirmation alert that the ‘Course was successfully updated.’

If you need assistance in setting up your course, you may request a consultation by sending an email to: help@stanfordcanvas.zendesk.com.