Copy a Canvas Course From a Previous Year

How to import course content from a Canvas course in a previous Year.

Important!

If you are migrating content that used the 'Google Drive Cloud Assignment' external tool submission type, you will need to edit these assignments and select the 'Google Assignments (LTI 1.3)' external tool submission type. (instructions) 'Google Assignments (LTI 1.3)' now supports SpeedGrader!
Canvas course content that you created last year can be easily copied to this year's courses.
For Edpuzzle Users: According to EdPuzzle support. "Edpuzzle doesn't consistently recognize copies within an LMS, which is why we say in our videos and articles that assignments should never be copied or reused."

Before starting, locate last year's course you want to copy (Courses → All Courses), mouse over the course you want to copy and jot down the course number at the end of the URL (21303 in the picture below). You will use this number later.

Open Settings in This Year's Course

In Course Navigation, click the Settings link.

Import Content into Course

Click the Import Course Content link.

Select Content Type

In the Content Type drop-down menu, select the Copy a Canvas Course option.

Search for a Course

Enter the course number for last year's course that you are copying in the Course Name field. Click the name of the course when it appears.

Select Migration Content

To import all content from the course, select the All Content radio button [1].

If you want to select specific content, click the Select specific content radio button [2].

Note: If you select the specific content option, you are required to select the content you want to import after you review the remaining page options. After you start importing the content, the import selection cannot be canceled.

IMPORTANT: Adjust Events and Due Dates

Adjust the due dates associated with the course events and assignments. Click the "Adjust events and due dates" checkbox. Do not skip this step! If you skip this step:

Grade passback to Synergy will fail.
If you have a late policy, students will have that policy applied as soon the import is complete.

Import Course

Click the Import button.

View Current Jobs

The Current Jobs section displays the status of your import. Running reports display a progress bar indicating the time remaining to complete the import.

If you chose to select specific content in your course, the current job will show as Waiting for Select [2], which means you must select the content you want to import.

The import may also display other status indicators as part of the import process. Learn more about course import statuses.

DO NOT run the import process more than once or you will end up with duplicates. If you run into issues, please submit a tech request.

After Importing

Publish/Unpublish your imported course content as desired.
On the "Pages" screen, set your home page. (Pages → View All Pages → → Use as Front Page)
On the "Assignments" screen, make sure your imported assignments are in the correct assignment groups.