Bring Canvas Discussions Into Your Team's Hub

Canvas discussions often happen in isolation—students or team members post, but the core group doesn't see updates unless they actively check the forum. Route discussion messages straight to Slack so conversations stay central and no voice gets lost.

Trigger

New Canvas Discussion Message

Polls Canvas discussion topics for new messages.

Slack logo

Action

Post message to channel

Deprecated: posts a message to a slack channel, direct message, or private channel. use `send message` instead.

Why this helps

Important discussion threads in Canvas go unread because checking the LMS forum isn't on your radar. Decisions get made and you miss them because the conversation didn't route through your primary communication hub.

  • Discussions flow to where your team already gathers
  • Never miss a peer or instructor response
  • All voices centralized in one searchable Slack channel
  • Encourages participation without extra app-switching

Setup

Build it in a few focused steps.

  • 1Connect Canvas and Slack.
  • 2Create an Automation: Name ('Discussion Feed'), Prompt ('Send Canvas discussion posts to Slack'), Channel (your classroom or project channel), Trigger ('New Canvas Discussion Message').
  • 3Messages posted in Canvas will now appear in Slack within seconds, keeping conversations visible.

Questions about this workflow

Will I see replies and threaded messages?

Yes—the full discussion structure posts to Slack so you can see replies and maintain context.

Can I limit this to certain discussion topics?

Refine your prompt to monitor specific topics or courses if you want to reduce noise.

What if there are too many messages?

You can adjust the automation to a digest mode or set it for specific discussion threads.

When this happens · Trigger

Do this · Action

Supported Triggers and Actions

Notis builds workflows that link Canvas to Slack. A trigger fires from one place; an action lands in another.

Canvas logo

Canvas triggers

Slack logo

Slack actions

Canvas Assignment Graded

Polls Canvas for newly graded submissions for a specific assignment.

TriggerPolling

Set snooze duration

Deprecated: turns on do not disturb mode for the current user, or changes its duration. use `set dnd duration` instead.

ActionInstant

New Canvas Assignment Submission

Polls Canvas for new submissions to a specific assignment.

TriggerPolling

Add a custom emoji to a Slack team

Deprecated: adds a custom emoji to a slack workspace given a unique name and an image url. use `add emoji` instead.

ActionInstant

New Canvas Discussion Message

Polls Canvas discussion topics for new messages.

TriggerPolling

Add an emoji alias

Adds an alias for an existing custom emoji in a slack enterprise grid organization.

ActionInstant

New Canvas Discussion Topic

Polls a Canvas course for new discussion topics.

TriggerPolling

Add a remote file

Adds a reference to an external file (e.g., google drive, dropbox) to slack for discovery and sharing, requiring a unique `external id` and an `external url` accessible by slack.

ActionInstant

New Course Created for User

Polls Canvas for newly created courses for a specific user.

TriggerPolling

Add a star to an item

Stars a channel, file, file comment, or a specific message in slack.

ActionInstant

New Canvas File Upload

Polls a Canvas course for new file uploads.

TriggerPolling

Add call participants

Registers new participants added to a slack call.

ActionInstant

Add emoji

Adds a custom emoji to a slack workspace given a unique name and an image url; subject to workspace emoji limits.

ActionInstant

Add reaction to message

Adds a specified emoji reaction to an existing message in a slack channel, identified by its timestamp; does not remove or retrieve reactions.

ActionInstant

Connect any two apps with Notis in the middle.

Not just Canvas and Slack. Any combination from 985+ integrations.

When this happens · Trigger

Do this · Action

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