This article covers why it is important to frequently review and remove content from a Canvas course site and how to delete the various types of content found in a course site.
Why you should remove course content
To meet the standards for accessible course materials outlined by the Department of Justice in their clarifications on Title II of the ADA, all content in a student-facing course site must be accessible, whether it is published for student viewing or hidden from students. Therefore, any materials that are old, outdated, and not likely to be used should be fully deleted from a course site that students are or will be enrolled in.
What to know before removing content
- The actual deletion of course content from a Canvas site takes minutes; however, finding all the content that should be deleted will take time. Plan to do this clean up as an initial step to preparing for the upcoming semester.
- Another way to remove outdated content is to move only relevant or published content forward to the next semester by importing specific content from one Canvas course site to another. This option allows you to select only the content you will use and leave any old content behind. Watch this video demonstrating how to import all or specific content (4:49).
- There are two options for archiving or saving content that you may want to use again but are not currently using:
- Download Canvas course materials to your computer.
- Create a development Canvas course site where you can store old content. Important: You will need to review and revise this content to be accessible before importing it back into a student-facing course site.
- If you accidentally delete something, there are ways to undelete and restore Canvas content.
Removing Content You No Longer Use
Important: Removing an item from a module doesn't delete it from the course. It will just remove the content from that module. Instead, you need to go to the place where the content lives in the course site and delete it from that area.
- Go to the area of course navigation where the content was created or imported (such as Files, Assignments, Quizzes, etc).
- Select the 3-dot ellipses to the right of the item that you want to delete and choose Delete in the dropdown menu.
- A pop up box from Canvas will appear, asking if you are sure you want to delete the content. Select Yes.
Removing course content from Files
Any PDFs, image files, Word documents, etc. that you have added to Canvas Pages, Modules, and Assignments are found in the course Files. Navigate to Files to review and delete items you no longer use.
Watch a video demonstration of the above steps (7:25).
Additional Resources
For more specific instructions on how to delete each type of Canvas content, see Instructure's resources for how to delete each content type: