Canvas: Course Import and Clean Up Processes

This article will guide course clean up and validation of links. We have provided a video walk through as well as detailed step-by-step instructions with screen captures.

These videos walk you the steps below:

• Step One: Selective Import Tutorial video (4 minutes) 
• Steps Two and Three: TidyUP and Link Validator Tutorial video (9 minutes)

Step One: Import previous course into sandbox or new term shell

1. Go to the course you want to import content INTO. Click on the Import Existing Content button in the right sidebar menu. (If you’re on a small screen, this button may be at the bottom.)
   
    
2. Select Content Type
   • Choose Copy a Canvas Course from drop down
     
     
     
      
3. Scroll through your list of courses and click on the course you want to copy FROM.
   
4. Content*: Choose Select specific content
   NOTE: If you do not use modules to organize your content, select All content. If this is the case, you will have additional clean-up to do in Step Two: Use TidyUP.
   
5. Options: Click Adjust events and due dates.
   • Choose to Shift or Remove dates
   • If you choose shift, you can manually move the due dates on the Canvas calendar. If you remove dates, you will enter the new dates in each assignment.
     
6. Choose + Add to Import Queue
   
7. If you are importing All Content, the process will start automatically.
8. If you are importing select content, click on the Select content button.
   
9. Choose the content to import as shown below. (If you are importing all content, you will not see this popup).

• Select only the items shown checked in the screen capture below.
• When you import Modules, content within the module will automatically be imported.
• In addition, pages and quiz banks will need to be selected or the Home page and any linked pages will not be imported.
• Select Assignments so Assignment Groups and any assignments not in modules (for example, a Participation assignment) are imported. When you select Assignments, Quizzes and Discussion Topics will automatically be selected if you have graded Quizzes or Discussions in your class.
• Click on Select Content button to finish.

If a content item you need is not imported, you can use the copy to feature to bring it over later. (See below for copy to instructions.) Your previous course serves as an automatic back-up for any content you delete in the imported version.

10. After the import is done running, you will usually see a Completed message in the status column. If there is an issue with an import, the message will read Partially Completed or Failed and you will be prompted to View Issues.
    

Step Two: Use TidyUP

The selective import process described above is an easy first step in identifying and cleaning up unused and duplicative content in your courses. If you follow this process, you have already left unused content (files, pages, assignments, etc.) behind in the previous course.

The TidyUP report can help you verify that your course clean-up is complete.

Important note: TidyUP cannot determine if a file is used in a quiz bank. These files and images will appear to be unused. Manually verify before you delete a file (including images).

The TidyUP process is divided into 3 general steps:

1. Activate TidyUP in the left navigation of your course.
2. Run the TidyUP scan.
3. De-clutter your course.

The TidyUP User Guide provides clear, easy-to-follow, step-by-step instructions to guide your course review and decluttering process.

Step 3: Canvas Link Validator Tool

The final step is to make sure that you have not accidentally deleted any linked content in your course de-cluttering process. Run the Validate Links in Content tool to discover any broken links.

The Link Validator Tool may return some confusing results. This Knowledge Base article will help you interpret your results.

Opening and Running the Link Validator

If you find that you deleted a file, page, assignment, etc. that you need, you can easily copy missing items from the previous class to the new one using the Canvas Copy To feature:

• Copy files: Go to Files > Click on the three dot menu at the right > Choose Copy To. Follow on-screen prompts to copy the file to a different class.
• Copy discussions
• Copy pages
• Copy assignments
• Copy quizzes
• Copy modules
• Copy a module item

After copying over missing content, verify with the Link Validator tool again.