Explore the Atomic Search function in Canvas

Posted on: 27 April 2021 by Canvas at Liverpool Project Team in Canvas at Liverpool

The Atomic Search tool is a fully integrated search functionality, allowing you to find results from Canvas pages, files, assignments, announcements, and other types of course content, quickly and easily.

Where is the Atomic search tool?

The search box is fixed to your dashboard and is located at the top right of your screen. Compared with VITAL’s search bar, this easy-to-use feature allows you to filter your searches across all courses or just one in particular.

Atomic search

How do I use the search function?

Log on to Canvas
On your Dashboard, click in the search box at the top right of the screen
Type the search terms you want to find results for
You can search for parts of words using the wildcard function (e.g. Eng*) or whole phrase searches (e.g. “English Literature”)
Use the second filter to search results by relevance and when published
When you’re ready, hit enter and your search results will display below
The results will include the title of the content, where it is located in the course, and some brief contextual information of where the search result was found in Canvas
The icon next to each search result displays the type of item (e.g. page, module, or quiz)
Click on a search result to navigate to the content.

To isolate your search, you can also opt to search for content within your course pages. To do this, simply head to your course page by using the blue toolbar to the left handside of the dashboard, select Courses, and then click the course you would like to see. You can then search for content within specific courses using the search bar at the top right of the page.

Unlike VITAL, this new functionality has distinct features to enable you to efficiently find what you need. With clear signposting to the types of content, where course information is located and its relevance to your search, you have the opportunity to explore your learning materials with ease.

If you'd like to find out more about Atomic Search, watch this video:

Keywords: Canvas , Atomic Search, VITAL.