Update from Canvas

Four steps, about one minute. You only do the first three once — after that, updating is a single click.

Why is this needed? (optional reading)

The calendar updates itself every hour from Canvas’s calendar feed. But a calendar can only hold “what is due when” — there is no room in it for points, weights, or whether you already submitted, and anything without a due date (attendance marks) cannot exist in a calendar at all.

Getting those needs Canvas’s data API, which requires a login. UBC has turned off student access tokens, so the server cannot log in — but your browser already is logged in. The button below borrows that session, reads the data, and sends it here. Your Canvas password is never involved and never leaves your computer.

1

Log in to UBC Canvas

Open canvas.ubc.ca in this same browser and sign in with CWL.

Already see your courses when you open Canvas? Then you are logged in — go to step 2. Leave that Canvas tab open; you will come back to it in step 4.

2

Enter this site’s write password

The same password the 🔑 button on the calendar page asks for.

Steps 3 and 4 stay greyed out until this is correct.

3

Put the update button on your bookmarks bar

First, make the bookmarks bar visible:

Chrome / Edge on Mac⌘ + ⇧ + B
Chrome / Edge on WindowsCtrl + ⇧ + B
SafariMenu bar → View → Show Favourites Bar

A thin strip of bookmarks should now sit just under the address bar. That strip is the bookmarks bar.

Then drag the blue button below up onto that strip and let go:

📥 Sync to Course Calendar

Press and hold the mouse on it, move up to the strip, release. It should appear there as a bookmark.
Do not click it on this page — it only works while you are on Canvas.

Dragging did not work?
  1. Right-click the blue button → Copy link address
  2. Right-click an empty spot on the bookmarks bar → Add page… / Add bookmark
  3. Name: Sync to Course Calendar — URL: paste what you copied → Save

This bookmark has your write password inside it. Do not share it or post a screenshot of it.

4

Go to Canvas and click that bookmark

  1. Switch to the Canvas tab from step 1 (any Canvas page is fine, as long as you are logged in)
  2. Click 📥 Sync to Course Calendar on the bookmarks bar
  3. A small box appears in the bottom-right corner and counts through your courses
  4. Wait until it says it is done — then come back here and check Current status below

Next time, only this step. The bookmark stays on your bar, so updating later is one click on Canvas. Do it when you want the “already submitted” marks refreshed, and about once a week — each click also checks which Canvas files and pages changed, so the calendar can point out new documents that may contain deadlines (it takes a minute or two). New assignments arrive on their own every hour, without you doing anything.

✓

Current status

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← Back to the calendar