There are two ways you can communicate with students in your course before the semester start date:

1. Use the Faculty Center email roster tool in myFSU. 
2. Publish your course and move up the course start date in Canvas.

How to publish your Canvas course

1. In the Home page, select to Publish the course.

How to move up your course start date

1. Select Settings
   
2. In the Course Details tab, scroll down to the Participation box. You should see the term Start and End text boxes just below it that indicate when your published course will become accessible to your enrolled students. If the start date needs to be adjusted, click the Participation drop-down menu and select Course.
   
3. Click on the calendar icon in the start box and select your desired start date and time.
   
   
   Note: By default, the course publish date is set as the Start date.
4. Scroll down to the bottom of the page and click the Update Course Details button.

Now, you are ready to use your Canvas Inbox to send messages to your class, or use course features such as Announcements to communicate with your class.