You're probably thinking "Great, another email system." The Canvas Inbox (located in the upper-right hand corner of your screen) is not intended to replace your email, but functions similar to email. Messages in your inbox are referred to as Conversations.

Why Use the Conversations Tool When I Already Have Email?

We are not asking you to abandon your school email. But for the purposes of course facilitation and delivery, the messaging system in Canvas makes it easy to manage conversations by course, by section, by group and/or by student without having to know their email address.

Here are some other reasons to consider using the Conversations tool for course-related correspondence:

You can send messages to an entire course, just a section, or a student without knowing their email addresses.
When a student emails you, you'll know exactly which course he/she is enrolled in.
Conversations are threaded and kept organized by student name. So if Cindy sent 7 separate messages last week, you will only see her name in your inbox once -- all correspondence will remain together.
You can see the profile pictures of students (assuming they have added one) when reading student messages.
Your messages can be written in text or be recorded as a video or audio directly from the new message interface.
All messages sent via the Gradebook will be archived in your Inbox.
All comments made on assignments through the Speedgrader will be archived in your Inbox.
All discussion replies made in your course or group discussions will show up in your Inbox.

Canvas Guides

Conversations

Video Tutorial

In this video, you will learn how to communicate with other Canvas users via the Conversations tool.

115 - Conversations Overview from Instructure on Vimeo.