Understanding the Canvas Dashboard

The Canvas Dashboard is designed to surface currently active courses at a glance. Courses move on or off the Dashboard automatically, based on publication status, participation dates, and, in some cases, manual “favorite” selections. Recognizing these rules clarifies where a course card should appear and when further action is required.

How Canvas Populates the Dashboard

Published and Active – A published course card appears when participation dates are current or left blank.
Unpublished (Instructors only) – An unpublished course card appears in a separate Unpublished section, regardless of dates. Unpublished courses do not appear for students.
Automatic Limit – When more than 20 courses meet the conditions above, the Dashboard displays only the 20 most-recently added active courses (alphabetical within that set).

Course cards disappear automatically when participation end dates pass or newer enrollments displace older ones under the 20-course limit. A card can also vanish if it is manually unfavorited (see “Manage Which Courses Appear on the Dashboard” below).

Access Courses Not on the Dashboard

All Canvas enrollments remain accessible from the Global Navigation menu, unless hidden by the instructor.

Select Courses from the left-hand menu
Click All Courses
Scroll to Past Enrollments to view concluded courses

Canvas All Courses screen

Courses listed under Past Enrollments are read-only but remain available for viewing and content copy.

Customizing the Dashboard View and Course Display

Dashboard layout and visual options can be customized, but these adjustments do not override participation-date rules or publication status.

Dashboard Layout Options

Card View (default) – Course cards and sidebar with To-Do items and alerts
List View – Daily agenda view; To-Do list removed
Recent Activity View – Stream of recent announcements, submissions, and discussions

Manage Which Courses Appear on the Dashboard

By default, active course cards are added automatically to keep the Dashboard focused. To refine visibility, mark specific courses as favorites.

Select Courses > All Courses
Toggle the star icon to include (filled) or exclude (empty) a course
Only favorited courses that remain active by date will appear

Reorder and Personalize Course Cards

Drag course cards into any order (Card View only)
Open a card’s three-dot menu to set a nickname or change its color
Color selections sync with the Canvas Calendar; nicknames and colors are user-specific

FAQ: Canvas Dashboard

A course I was enrolled in ended, and I don't see the course anywhere

If you cannot find a past enrollment (Instructor or student) anywhere, it's likely the course was set to restrict access before or after the participation dates. The Instructor would need to adjust the course settings, or contact canvas@uiwtx,edu for further assistance.

Can a course be brought back to the Dashboard?

Participation dates should only be extended for a legitimate academic reason, such as granting a student extra time. Extending dates brings the course back to enrolled users’ Dashboards and can cause confusion if not intended.

The course isn’t on the Dashboard—does that mean it’s unpublished or removed?

Not necessarily. A course often disappears because its participation end date has passed or a newer enrollment replaced it under the 20-course limit. It remains accessible under Courses > All Courses.

Courses stay on the Dashboard until manually removed

Canvas removes course cards once participation dates end—unless dates are blank, making the course permanently active. Empty participation dates are discouraged because they clutter Dashboards for both instructors and students.

Must a course appear on the Dashboard to copy content?

No. Course Copy relies on instructor enrollment only. Any previous course—published, unpublished, or concluded—can be selected during the import workflow.

Why do older courses still show on the Dashboard?

Open the course Settings panel and check the Participation field. If the field is blank (or if the course was once favorited), Canvas treats the course as active and shows it on the Dashboard. Setting Participation to “Term” or adding dates will remove it for everyone once the end date passes.

Can I copy a course if it's not on my dashboard?

Content import is independent of Dashboard placement. Any course previously taught can serve as a source, whether it is published, unpublished, or listed in Past Enrollments.