How can I powerfully search my Canvas sites?
Atomic Search is a tool that lets you search text content within Canvas course(s). You can access Atomic Search by clicking Search in the left-hand navigation menu or from the search box at the top right corner of the screen (see image below).
Atomic Search allows you to:
- Search within the Canvas course content (including discussion prompts, assignments, announcements, pages, files, syllabus, quizzes). As students, your search results will only include published content that you have access to.
- Search for a word, wildcard, or phrase across all Canvas courses that have Atomic Search enabled.
- Filter your search to only search for Pages, Files, or Syllabuses and sort the search results by "Relevance" and "Recency".
- Start a search by clicking Search in the course navigation or entering a term in the search bar in the top right-hand corner of the screen in a course.
What types of content does Atomic Search allow you to search?
You can search the following types of content:
- Pages
- Files (PDF, MS Office format files, text files, and HTML documents)
- Assignments
- Quizzes (Cannot search questions or answers)
- Modules
- External pages
- Announcements
- Discussions (Title and the prompt; no posts)
- Syllabus
What types of searches does Atomic Search let you do?
You can do keyword, wildcard, and phrase searching:
| Search Type | Example | Finds |
|---|---|---|
Keyword | development | Items that contain the word development or a variant. |
Wildcard | dev* | Items that contain works that start with dev (develop, devise, device, devote, devastate, etc.) |
Phrase | “process of change” | Items that contain exactly the words process of change. |
Searching * will return all results.
Sorting: Recency vs Relevance
Results are default-ranked according to relevance. The titles of items are weighted heavier than items in a content body. You can sort your search results by “Relevance” or “Recency”.
- Sorting by Recency will return the items most recently added to Canvas first.
- Sorting by Relevance will return the results that are most relevant to the search terms you entered first.
Can I search all my Canvas courses?
Yes, if Atomic Search is enabled by your course. Not all courses will choose to enable Atomic Search but for classes that you are enrolled in with Atomic Search enabled, you will be able to search across multiple courses.
Can I search courses that have ended?
Yes, if the course remains published and you are still enrolled in the course (meaning that it still shows up on your Canvas dashboard).