How Can I Send a Piece of Course Content to Another Course or Instructor?

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Have you ever been working on a course and realized there was a piece of it that you wanted to use in another of your courses? Or has another instructor asked you for a piece of content and you were left with trying to figure out the best way to get it to them?  

Canvas has a feature that makes this easy. When you want to transfer a single item (or a few items), you can use the direct share feature to copy or send the item. These two options function a little differently – one sends the item to a user, while the other copies it to a course section. 

Before we dive into the details, a quick note: Canvas will copy the item itself but not any associated files. So if you have an item that has a document linked or embedded in it, the item will transfer but not the document. You’ll have to move that item separately. 

Send an item to another instructor  

To send an item to an instructor, click the three dots in line with the item, then select “send to…” from the menu. Start typing the instructor’s name in the “send to” field, then click the full name when it pops up. If you want to send the item to multiple people, add them to the “send to” field in the same way. Once you have your recipients set, click “send.” Canvas will give you a notification that the process has started.  

For more information about sending a piece of content, check out Canvas’s “How do I send an assignment to another instructor?” article.  

Receive an item from an instructor 

If you are on the receiving end of this, you’ll find any sent items in your account. Your profile picture will have a number badge on it to let you know how many items are waiting for you. Click your profile picture in the main Canvas menu, then click the “Shared Content” link in the menu that slides out. From there, use the “actions” menu in line with the item to preview, import, or remove the item.  

For more information about receiving content, check out Canvas’s “How do I manage content shared to me from other users?” article.  

Copy an item to another course section 

If you have a piece of content you want to use in one of your other course sections, you’ll want to use this option! You can only share the content to sections you have access to. Click the three dots in line with the item you want to copy, then select “Copy To…” from the menu. Start typing the course in the “Select a Course” field, then select the desired course. Select the module where you want to place the copied content and choose where in the module you want the item. Once you have those set, click “Copy.”  

You’ll get a notification that the copy operation has started, and you’ll then find the item in your other course in your selected module. If you copied an assignment, you’ll find the item in an “Imported Assignments” category on the Assignments page.  

For more information about copying an individual piece of content, check out Canvas’s “How do I copy an assignment to another course?” article.

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