The Calendar is a great way to view everything you have to do for all your courses in one place. You can view calendar events by day, week, month, or agenda list.

Index

Accessing the calendar
Adding University term names and week numbers to your calendar
Creating Calendar Events
Calendar Export to PDF
Calendar Sync
Import Events into Personal Calendar

1. Accessing the calendar

Your Calendar can be found on the right-hand side of your course screen by selecting the View calendar link. You can also access Calendar via the Global Navigation menu.

Up to 20 individual course calendars can be displayed at any given time; you can filter them by selecting or deselecting individual courses on the sidebar of the Calendar view:

To help manage your Calendar, courses that you mark as a favourite course will always be listed at the top of your Calendar list in the Calendar sidebar. To favourite a course, go to Courses in the global course navigation, then select All courses.

all courses

After this, simply click on the star next to the course you would like to favourite as shown below.

favourite course

2. Adding University term names and week numbers to your calendar

To add the University of Oxford term names and weeks to your calendar, select the Calendar icon in the global navigation menu on the left.

The Canvas Calendar will appear. Find the option to add Other Calendars.

Select the plus icon next to Other Calendars. In the Add Calendar box, select University of Oxford and then choose Save Changes.

The University of Oxford calendar will now appear in the list of Other Calendars. You can toggle whether to view the University terms and weeks by selecting or deselecting the coloured box next to the name of the calendar.

Each year, the University of Oxford calendar for the following academic year will be added automatically (e.g., the 2024/2025 calendar will be added at the start of Michaelmas Term 2023/2024).

3. Creating Calendar Events

You can easily create events and appointments on your Canvas calendar. To set an event in your course Calendar simply enter the Calendar tool and click on a given date. You can then choose your event time, location and other details by filling in the fields of the Edit event window.

edit event

4. Calendar Export to PDF

You can export a portion of a Canvas course calendar to a PDF file or to a Word document for further editing. To access this tool, click the Export Calendar to PDF button on the right hand side of the home page of a Canvas course.

Screenshot showing the location of the Export Calendar to PDF button on the right hand side of a Canvas course home page.

After selecting the Export Calendar to PDF button on a course home page, you are presented with a screen offering the following options:

Screenshot showing the options available when exporting a calendar from a Canvas course.

Select date range for events: You can select the date range for events to be included. Both the ‘from’ and ‘to’ date fields are mandatory.

Select event types: You can choose the event types to be included in the export file. By default all event types are selected. At least one type needs to be selected.

Clicking the Generate Events button takes you to the next page where the events based on your criteria are shown:

Screenshot showing the preview of the calendar export based on the criteria chosen by the user.

On this screen you can verify that the expected events are displaying as expected and then export them to a PDF file by clicking the Print/Save to PDF button. Alternatively, you can copy the formatted text to the computer's clipboard ready to be pasted into a Microsoft Word document by clicking the Copy page to Word button. Click the Back button to return to the previous page if you need to change the calendar export options.

5. Calendar Sync

You can choose to export a feed for your Canvas calendar(s) and import it to another calendar (such as Google Calendar or Outlook). This will integrate your Canvas due dates and other events into another calendar that you use regularly.

1. Click on Account in the Global Navigation menu and then Calendar Sync.

Screenshot showing the location of the Calendar Sync tool in the Account menu of the Global Navigation menu in Canvas.

2. The first time you use the Calendar Sync tool you will be asked to grant permissions for the tool to access your account.

3. When the tool loads you will be presented with a drop-down list containing the option of "All my courses and my personal calendar" followed by options for each individual course that you are enrolled on. The first option allows you to add the calendar for all your courses to an external calendar at once. Alternatively, you can choose to add the calendar for only one course. You can repeat this process for as many courses as you want added to your external calendar.

Screenshot showing the options of Canvas calendars to sync with an external calendar.

4. Once you have chosen an option from the drop-down list, you can click the button corresponding to the external calendar that you would like the Canvas calendar added to. If the calendar you would like to use is not listed (for example, Yahoo! Calendar), you can click the Other Calendar button to receive a link to a .ics file that you can import manually.

5. If you choose Outlook Calendar, Google Calendar or Apple Calendar you should find that the appropriate calendar is opened automatically and you are given the option to approve adding the selected Canvas calendar to your external calendar.

Important limitations:

There may be a delay of up to 24 hours before changes made in Canvas appear in your external calendar. If in doubt, check the Canvas calendar as last minute changes may occur for some events.
This sync is one way only from Canvas to your external calendar. No changes made in your external calendar will appear in your Canvas calendar.

6. Import Events into Personal Calendar

If your department or college makes use of customised events for individual students, you can choose to import these events into your personal Canvas calendar. Every user has a personal calendar in Canvas, which is accessed from the global Calendar tool (in the global navigation bar). Your personal calendar shows up as the first one in the list on the right-hand side of the screen.

If available in one of your Canvas courses, the link to the import tool will appear with a suitable title, something like this:

Click on the link if you wish to import these events.

The first time you access this tool, it will prompt you to authorise access to the tool. Follow the on-screen prompts in order to do so.

You will then see a screen in which you can toggle this import option on or off:

Switch the Import Events button on or off, then click Save. You can then click on the link at the top of that screen to check that the imported events have been imported into (or removed from) your personal Canvas calendar.

After the events have been imported, you could then use the Calendar Sync function (see section above) to synchronise your Canvas personal calendar to an external calendar of your choice.

The document published by Canvas, below, might also be helpful:

How do I use the Calendar as a student?