You can add a link to an external URL by adding a link to a module or hyperlinking with a page on Canvas.
Adding a link to a module
Begin by navigating to the modules section of the course you want to add the external URL to. Click on the grey plus sign of the module you want to add the external URL to:
Click on the dropdown box next to "Add" and select "External URL":
Type in or copy/paste the external URL into the "URL" section and write the text that you would like to appear under the module in the "Page Name" section, then click "Add Item":
The link will appear in the module you selected. By default, it will be "unpublished". To "publish" for students to access it, click on the grey circle with a slash in order to change it to a green checkmark:
Your URL will be now visible to students.
Adding a URL in a page
You can add an external link to a page or hyperlink text to an external URL.
To add an external link you your page, navigate to the page you want to edit and click "edit". Within the rich content editor, click on the "link" button and select "External link":
Type the text that you want to appear on the page in the "text" box and type or copy/paste the URL in the "link" box. Press "Done" to add it your page:
The URL will displayed as the text that you indicate and will be a live link on your page after you click "Save" at the bottom of the screen.
You can also link URLs to images on pages using this knowledge base article: Making your Canvas Page with Images and Hyperlinks within your course.
To hyperlink text to an external URL, navigate to the page you want to edit and click "edit". Within the rich content editor, highlight the text that you would like hyperlinked. Click on the "link" button and select "External link". Since you already selected the text, complete the step by adding the external URL and click "Done":
You text is now hyperlinked.