Canvas Bulk Announcement Sender to Multiple Courses

WHAT IT DOES

This productivity tool revolutionizes Canvas course communication by enabling bulk announcement sending across multiple courses simultaneously. It scans your current Canvas course list page, extracting all visible courses including their names, IDs, codes, and enrollment counts. You can then filter courses by name or enrollment size, select individual courses or use the select-all-filtered feature, compose your announcement with a title and message, and send it to all selected courses in one batch operation. The script supports announcement templates, frequently used messages, and configurable settings including allowing comments and requiring users to post before viewing. The script handles the entire workflow automatically, opening each course's announcement creation page through Canvas's standard interface.

WHERE IT RUNS

This script operates on Canvas course list and announcement pages at *://*.instructure.com/courses//announcements, *://*.canvas./courses//announcements, *://*.instructure.com/accounts//courses, and *://*.canvas./accounts//courses. It integrates as a floating panel on the left side of your browser window when you navigate to any Canvas course listing or announcement page. The tool works with Canvas's dynamic interface, detecting courses regardless of how they're rendered on the page and adapting to Canvas's frequent UI changes.

HOW TO USE

Navigate to any Canvas course list page (account courses) or announcement page.

The panel appears automatically on the left side of the screen.

Click "Refresh" to load all visible courses from the current page.

Use the filter input to search courses by name or course code.

Use the student enrollment range inputs (Min/Max) to filter courses by size.

Check the boxes next to courses you want to send announcements to, or use "Select All Filtered".

Compose your announcement: enter a title and message in the composition fields.

Optionally, load a saved template from the "Template" dropdown and click "Load".

Click "Save as Template" to save the current announcement for future use.

Toggle announcement options: "Allow Comments" and "Require Post Before Viewing".

Click "Send Announcement to Selected" to begin the bulk sending process.

The script will open new tabs for each selected course (allow popups) and create the announcements automatically.

TAB OPENING AND FORM AUTOMATION MECHANISM

The tool succeeds because it leverages Canvas's announcement creation workflow through programmatic tab opening and form automation. The script navigates to each course's announcement page using window.open, which preserves Canvas's session and authentication. It then waits for the page to load, finds the "Create Announcement" button, clicks it to open the form, and populates the title and message fields using React event propagation with proper "input" and "change" events. The script handles Canvas's dynamic form rendering by using multiple selector fallbacks and appropriate timing delays between actions. The implementation includes comprehensive error recovery for popup blockers and page load delays. The concurrency cap of 4 simultaneous operations with 300ms spacing prevents Canvas's rate limiting from blocking requests while maintaining efficient throughput. Templates and frequent messages are stored locally using GM_setValue, enabling quick reuse of common communication patterns across multiple semesters.

THE PANEL

The floating panel is draggable to any position on screen and remembers its location between sessions using GM_setValue. It automatically collapses to a small icon when minimized and expands on hover or click. The panel is resizable to suit your workspace needs and can be dismissed with the Escape key. It snaps to the left edge by default but can be positioned anywhere, with position persisted across browsing sessions for consistent placement. All settings persist automatically across sessions, including announcement templates, frequent messages, and course selection history.

PLEASE NOTE

This script requires the free BotGentz extension to run user scripts on Canvas. Canvas frequently updates its interface, which may temporarily break functionality; updates are released regularly to maintain compatibility. The script only reads visible course information from the page and does not store or transmit any data externally. All processing occurs locally in your browser. The script requires popups to be allowed for sending announcements, as it opens new tabs for each course. Announcements are sent through Canvas's standard interface, respecting all Canvas permissions and policies. Always verify your announcement content and course selections before sending to avoid unintended communications. The script remembers your recently used courses and templates, making bulk communication across multiple courses efficient and consistent.