How To Bring Over Material From Other Courses In Canvas

If you’re a teacher or course designer using Canvas LMS, you don’t have to rebuild every course from scratch.

Canvas makes it easy to reuse materials — like assignments, quizzes, modules, and files — from your previous courses.

Whether you’re teaching the same class next semester or want to pull content from another course you manage, you can bring everything over in just a few clicks.

Here’s a simple guide to show you exactly how to import content from one Canvas course to another.

What You Can Copy Between Courses

You can bring over:

• Modules

• Pages

• Assignments

• Quizzes

• Discussions

• Announcements

• Files

• Course settings

• Rubrics

• Question banks

You can copy everything or just select parts — it’s totally up to you.

Step-by-Step: How to Bring Over Course Material in Canvas

🔹 Step 1: Go to the New Course

Log in to Canvas and open the course you want to copy materials into (the new/blank one).

🔹 Step 2: Open Course Settings

On the left menu, scroll down and click Settings.

🔹 Step 3: Choose “Import Course Content”

On the right side (or bottom, depending on screen size), click the “Import Course Content” button.

🔹 Step 4: Select Content Type

From the dropdown menu labeled “Content Type,” choose:
Copy a Canvas Course 

🔹 Step 5: Search for the Course to Copy From

Start typing the name of the old course in the Search for a course box.

Canvas will show matching courses you’ve taught or have access to.

🔒 Note: You must be a teacher in both courses to copy content between them.

🔹Step 6: Choose What to Import

You now have two choices:

•  All content – Brings everything over

•  Select specific content – Lets you pick certain modules, quizzes, or files only

🔹Step 7: Adjust Events and Due Dates (Optional)

You can also:

• Shift due dates to match your new term

• Remove all dates to set them manually later

🔹 Step 8: Click “Import”

Canvas will begin importing the materials.
You’ll see a progress bar under “Current Jobs”. Wait a few moments for the process to complete.

 If You Chose “Select Specific Content”

Once you click Import, Canvas will show a “Select Content” button.
Click it and check the boxes next to:

• Specific modules

• Assignments

• Quizzes

• Files
  … then click “Select Content” to finalize the import.

Tips for a Smooth Import

•  Large courses may take a few minutes to process.

•  Always double-check dates after importing.

•  Clean up unused files or duplicate items after import.

•  Make sure links inside pages still work — especially if copied from another term.

Conclusion

Copying content from one Canvas course to another is simple and saves you tons of time.

Just follow these steps:

1. Go to the new course

2. Open Settings → Import Course Content

3. Select Copy a Canvas Course

4. Choose what to import

5. Click Import, review, and adjust

 Whether you’re preparing for a new semester or organizing multiple sections, this feature keeps your teaching efficient and consistent.

Thank you for reading.