Bring useful email questions into course discussions
Move a question from the inbox into a Canvas discussion so the answer can help the wider class.
Trigger
New Gmail Message Received Trigger
Triggers when a new message is received in Gmail.
Action
Create discussion entry
Tool to create a new entry in a canvas discussion topic. use when posting a message with optional attachments to a discussion topic.
Why this helps
Repeated questions in email take time to answer one by one and can keep useful answers from reaching the class.
- Make useful answers visible to more learners
- Reduce repeated one-to-one replies
- Keep discussion posts tied to the original question
Setup
Build it in a few focused steps.
- 1Connect Gmail and Canvas once in the Notis portal.
- 2Create a named automation in Automations, New Automation.
- 3Tell Notis to post incoming course questions as Canvas discussion entries only when a matching topic is clear.
- 4Choose New Gmail Message Received as the trigger and set a report destination.
- 5Test with one real question and confirm the entry appears in the intended discussion.
Questions about this workflow
Does this create a discussion topic too?
No. This workflow creates an entry in an existing discussion topic. Specify the topic in your instruction or have Notis report when it cannot identify one.
Can I limit this to questions that benefit the class?
Yes. Tell Notis what makes a question useful for the wider class and what to do when it does not meet that condition.
When this happens · Trigger
Do this · Action
Supported Triggers and Actions
Notis builds workflows that link Gmail to Canvas. A trigger fires from one place; an action lands in another.
Gmail triggers
Canvas actions
Recurring trigger
Notis starts this workflow on a schedule, such as daily, weekly, or during business hours.
Create account notification
Creates a global notification within a canvas account, ensuring `end at` is after `start at` and any specified `notification roles` are valid.
Webhook trigger
Notis starts this workflow when an external tool or custom backend sends an HTTP request.
Create appointment group
Creates a new appointment group in canvas for schedulable time slots within specified course or group contexts.
Email Sent
Triggers when a Gmail message is sent by the authenticated user. It polls the 'SENT' label and emits metadata including sender, recipients, subject, timestamp, and thread ID.
Create an assignment
Creates a new assignment within a specified course in canvas lms.
New Gmail Message Received Trigger
Triggers when a new message is received in Gmail.
Create assignment override
Creates an assignment override to adjust due/unlock/lock dates for an assignment in a course, targeting specific students (requires `title`), a group, or a course section; at least one target (`student ids`, `group id`, or `course section id`) is required.
Create Calendar Event
Creates a calendar event with options for recurrence (finite `rrule` series only), section-specific timings, and blackout dates within a specified context.
Create communication channel
Creates a new communication channel (e.g., email, sms, push) for an existing canvas user to receive notifications.
Create content share
Shares a canvas content item to specified users, if the sender has necessary permissions and receiver ids are valid.
Create conversation
Use to send messages in canvas by creating a new conversation or adding to an existing one; an existing conversation with the same recipients (and matching scope/filter, if specified) may be reused unless `force new` is true.
Connect any two apps with Notis in the middle.
Gmail and Canvas, or any other combination from 1,000+ integrations.
When this happens · Trigger
Do this · Action
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