The Inbox found on the left hand side bar of Canvas is a messaging tool used to communicate with a course, a group, an individual, or a group of students. You can use the inbox to communicate with other people in your course at any time. The Canvas inbox is not email.
The inbox can be sorted to show messages regarding all courses, favorite courses, concluded courses, or groups that were created.
You can also choose to view your inbox, unread, starred, sent, archived messages, and submission comments.
The top right side of the inbox page will allow you to compose a new message, archive, delete, mark as unread, star, or forward messages.