Importing content between courses | Staff guide

You can copy your learning resources from a previous year into a new course in Canvas. Here are some quick tips to help you avoid problems:

Course copy key tips

1. Check and update all dates
   After copying, adjust your assessment dates — due dates, open/close times, and any time-sensitive details. You can also remove all dates automatically when copying.
2. Don’t manually copy and paste page content
   Manually pasting text from one course to another can break your page layout or links. Always use the built-in course copy tools instead to avoid adding corrupt HTML.
3. Do you need to copy over your Calendar events?
   If you’re using Calendar events, consider whether you want to copy them over and adjust the dates or add these afresh into your new course.
4. Remember — you can’t undo a copy
   Once a course is copied, it can’t be reversed. You’ll need to manually delete anything you don’t need.
5. Double-check your source course
   Before starting, make sure you’re copying from the right (and latest) version of your course and ensure your destination course is correct.

Course copy process

1. Open up your new empty course (where you are copying to). If you cannot identify your course in the dashboard, click on 'courses' in the main menu and then select 'All Courses'.
2. On your course home page click on 'Import Existing Content' button.
   
3. In the Content Type option, select the 'Copy a Canvas Course' option.
   
   
4. In the Search for a course box, type your course code or title and select the course you would like to access. You can choose to include completed courses by selecting the completed courses checkbox.
5. Ensure you choose the ‘Select specific content’ option
6. Click the import button

You might notice a number of issues that occurred during the import. If you check these, you will find that these are probably minor issues and should not be a cause for concern. Remember to test the course through Student View before publishing the course to check for last minute changes.

Help and support

If you encounter any problems, get in touch with Canvas support by clicking on 'help' in the main menu to:

• Call
• Chat
• Submit a ticket

You can also contact the Teaching and Learning Academy via LJMU Assist.