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How to copy / import content from the same or different Canvas course

  • Updated

Introduction

Canvas provides instructors the ability to individually or bulk copy content from one course to another, copy an entire module or individual items within modules to another course as well sharing content directly to other users.

Note: if you have taught your course in Canvas, the Online Learning department will import the content from the previous offering into the new quarter's course 3 weeks prior to the start date. You or your program manager may request for a copy of the content sooner than this and we will aim to complete within 3 business days. You may also follow the steps below for Bulk copy content if you want to copy content sooner.

⚠️ DISAMBIGUATION: Copy to versus Duplicate functions

Copy to: For sending content from one distinct Canvas course section to another (e.g. from your Spring section to Summer), use the Copy to function. If you use Copy to within the same course section, you will overwrite content with the same name, and this can cause you problems.

Duplicate: For making a copy of course content within the same Canvas course section, use the Duplicate function. The duplicate function is more like the typical copy/paste functionality users expect. When duplicate is used, the new item will have the word "copy" at the end of the title. For example, if you duplicate your "Week 1 Overview," you will see "Week 1 Overview copy." You can edit the "copy" version for another week's overview, which will not alter the original "Week 1 Overview."

Index

Validate links

Before copying your content, you may be interested in validating the links in your course.

The benefit to this is to verify there will be no issues or fix issues with any existing links in your course before you copy to another course. This tool is available in all Canvas courses and runs on-demand, so you can run as often as necessary.

Import content: individual or multiple items

Copy one or more items from one course to another using the import tool. Follow the steps outlined in How do I copy content from another Canvas course using the Course Import tool.

Copy modules

You now have the ability to copy either individual items within modules or the entire module from one course to another

Copy one item

Depending on the type of content you want to copy, if you only want to copy one item from your course to another, you can follow the steps outlined below.

Note: if you have already copied an item (A) and it appears as another item (B), then subsequently copy the same item (A) again, the initial copied item (B) gets overwritten with the item (A). This does not provide an additional copy of the item. Instead, copy the item (B) again, and you will get a second copied item (C). If you want to copy to the same course, use the "Duplicate" feature instead.

Share with another instructor

Depending on the type of content you want to copy, if you want to share content to another instructor, you can follow the steps outlined here:

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