Add navigation links to external content

If you want to provide access from the Canvas navigation menu to external content (for example, to uw.edu), you can. Although this is not necessary, having a link from the navigation menu makes it easier for students to access external content from within the course space.

Follow the steps below to add a link to the Canvas navigation menu:

1. In the left-hand menu, click Settings.
   
2. Click the External Tools tab, and then click Add External Tool.
3. In the Edit External Tool screen, you can enter any text that you want in the Name, Consumer Key, and Shared Secret fields. In the Name field, you may want to enter descriptive text that will help you distinguish between multiple tools that you create.
   
4. In the Configuration Type drop down list, select Paste XML.
5. Copy the following sample XML code and paste it into the Paste XML Here field:
   
   <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?> <cartridge_basiclti_link xmlns="http://www.imsglobal.org/xsd/imslticc_v1p0"     xmlns:blti = "http://www.imsglobal.org/xsd/imsbasiclti_v1p0"     xmlns:lticm ="http://www.imsglobal.org/xsd/imslticm_v1p0"     xmlns:lticp ="http://www.imsglobal.org/xsd/imslticp_v1p0"     xmlns:xsi = "http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"     xsi:schemaLocation = "http://www.imsglobal.org/xsd/imslticc_v1p0 http://www.imsglobal.org/xsd/lti/ltiv1p0/imslticc_v1p0.xsd     http://www.imsglobal.org/xsd/imsbasiclti_v1p0 http://www.imsglobal.org/xsd/lti/ltiv1p0/imsbasiclti_v1p0.xsd     http://www.imsglobal.org/xsd/imslticm_v1p0 http://www.imsglobal.org/xsd/lti/ltiv1p0/imslticm_v1p0.xsd     http://www.imsglobal.org/xsd/imslticp_v1p0 http://www.imsglobal.org/xsd/lti/ltiv1p0/imslticp_v1p0.xsd">     <blti:title>Attendance</blti:title>     <blti:description>Link Description</blti:description>     <blti:extensions platform="canvas.instructure.com">       <lticm:property name="privacy_level">public</lticm:property>       <lticm:property name="domain">example.com</lticm:property>       <lticm:options name="course_navigation">         <lticm:property name="url">https://uw.edu</lticm:property>         <lticm:property name="text">
   UW Homepage</lticm:property>       </lticm:options>     </blti:extensions>     <cartridge_bundle identifierref="BLTI001_Bundle"/>     <cartridge_icon identifierref="BLTI001_Icon"/> </cartridge_basiclti_link>    ---------------End Code---------------------------------------- 
   
   The two yellow highlighted sections are the only sections that you need to edit: "https://uw.edu" and "UW Homepage". The first indicates the external link, and the second is the text that will be displayed on your Navigation menu. For example, the code above will add a link to the UW homepage to the left-hand menu. When students click that link, they will see the UW homepage within the Canvas course.