Announcements are the most straightforward way to broadcast a message to your entire class or sections of your class.

What are Announcements?

How do I add an announcement in a course?

Announcements Overview from Instructure Canvas Video Guides.

Notification Preferences and Announcements

If you plan to use Announcements to communicate regularly with students, note this in your syllabus and tell your students. Students may have set their Notifications preferences to not send email copies of Announcements, so you could encourage them to set their preferences to "on".

How do I set my Canvas notification preferences as a student?

Using Conversations (Inbox)

In Canvas, email is called Conversations or Inbox. Conversations, which is labeled as the "Inbox" in the global navigation menu, allows you to send emails to without leaving Canvas. Use this only when you aren't going to attach files to your emails, as these do not always make it to the message recipient.

See this guide for directions on using the Canvas Inbox: Instructors guide / Students guide.