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Canvas guide · Set up your LMS
Your course shell and navigation
Get oriented in an empty course and decide what students see.
A new Canvas course opens to a blank Home page with a left-hand Course Navigation menu: Home, Announcements, Modules, Grades, and more. Students see a simpler version of that menu than you do.
In Settings, the Navigation tab lets you drag items to reorder them and hide the ones you are not using. A short, focused menu reduces confusion because students are not choosing among links that lead nowhere useful. A common setup keeps Home, Announcements, Modules, Grades, and your communication tool visible, and hides Files, Pages, and unused tools so students follow your designed path rather than rummaging through Files.
How to do this in Canvas
Official step-by-step instructions. Each opens in a new tab so you don’t lose your place in the course.
Accessibility checkpoint
A clear, logically ordered student-facing view is easier for everyone to navigate, including keyboard and screen-reader users who move through it in order.