Warning : What Not to Do

Some common practices that work in other online environments don't work well in Canvas. They tend to result in content that looks fine to you as an instructor, but that won't work as intended for your students.

If you find yourself reaching for copy/paste to move content from one course to another, take a look at Use the Copy-To Function: Intermediate instructions.

Don't copy and paste from another course or web page

Copying and pasting content from another source usually works, as long as the content is all text--though the formatting may be pretty chaotic. Trying to copy links to other course content--or embedded content like images or files--and paste it into another course will likely result in broken images and unreachable resources for your students. If you aren't sure if your content is working, test it using Student View.

Likewise, copying the HTML or the content from a Canvas edit window may lead to significant problems. The upshot is really that copying and pasting content in Canvas isn't like copying and pasting in a word processor. Proceed with caution, or pick one of the other options covered in this module.

canvas page with content highlighted and a not symbol superimposed over it.

*Use the navigation bar, above, to jump quickly to another item in this module. The navigation bar is not available in the Canvas app.