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Importing Specific Parts of a Canvas Course

Casey Shew Updated by Casey Shew

There are a number of scenarios in which you may want to import just specific parts of a Canvas course into another Canvas course. It could be that you want to copy in some template pages from the master template to base pages in a new course off of, but you don't want to import the entire course as you'd have to delete many pages manually after doing so. It may also be that you are reusing a specific module or specific pages from another course as-is in a derivative product.

In any case, Canvas makes it easy to import specific modules or pages into another course. The process varies slightly depending on if you are importing course content from the same Canvas instance (i.e. content from one course to another on lms.ecornell.com), or if you are importing course content from a different Canvas instance (i.e. content from a course on lms.ecornell.com to a course on canvas.cornell.edu). We will cover both of these scenarios in this article.

You may be thinking why not just copy and paste the HTML from one page to another to import the content? Well one reason the processes below are preferred is when dealing with a lot of content, this method should be much faster. The other reason is that if the page you are copying HTML from contains LTI tool embeds or links to other pages or files in the course, those elements will break because they reference that specific course's identifier. The processes below will prevent those from breaking.

Importing From a Course on the Same Canvas Instance

This section covers the process for importing specific course pages or modules from one course to another when both courses are on the same Canvas instance (i.e. lms.ecornell.com).

  1. First open the course you'd like to import the content into.
  2. Click on "Settings" in the left navigation, and then click "Import Course Content".
  1. On the import content screen, select "Copy a Canvas Course" as the Content Type, search for the course you'd like to import from in the "Search for a Course" field, and then select it. Click the "Select specific content" radio button, and then click "Import".
  1. A new line will appear under the "Current Jobs" heading with the code/name of the course you selected. Click the "Select Content" button on that line.
  2. A "Select Content" modal will appear - this is where you specify the specific modules, pages, files, etc... that you'd like to import into your course. If you are importing whole modules, expand the "Modules" section and click the checkboxes next to the modules you'd like to import. If you are importing pages, do the same for pages, etc...
    1. Note: If you import modules containing pages and assignments, you do not need to also select those pages and assignments individually. When you select a module, it imports all of the pages and assignments that module contains without the need to select them individually.
  3. After selecting all of the items you'd like to import, click the "Select Content" button to trigger the import of the selected content.
  1. The content import will now execute and the relevant line under "Current Jobs" will show a status of the progress of the import. When the status shows as "Completed", the content has now been imported into your new course. That's it!
    1. Note: If you imported specific pages or assignments, they will not yet appear in your modules. You'll need to click the + button on the module you want that page or assignment in, select it, and click "Add Item".

Importing From a Course on Different Canvas Instance

This section covers the process for importing specific course pages or modules from one course to another when the courses are on different Canvas instance (i.e. import pages/modules from a course on lms.ecornell.com to a course on canvas.cornell.edu).

  1. First open the course that contains the pages/modules that you'd like to import.
  2. Click on "Settings" in the left navigation, and then click "Export Course Content".
  1. Under "Export Type" select the "Course" radio button and click "Create Export".
  2. After the export has finished processing, a link will appear near the top of the page with the title "New Export". Click this link to download the course package to your computer. This file will have an .imscc file extension.
  1. Now open the course that you'd like to import those pages/modules into
  2. Click on "Settings" in the left navigation, and then click "Import Course Content".
  1. On the import content screen, select "Canvas Course Export Package" as the Content Type, and click "Browse" to find and select the .imscc file you downloaded in step 4.. After selecting the .imscc file from your computer, click the "Select specific content" radio button, and then click "Import".
  1. A new line will appear under the "Current Jobs" heading with the code/name of the course you selected. Click the "Select Content" button on that line.
  2. A "Select Content" modal will appear - this is where you specify the specific modules, pages, files, etc... that you'd like to import into your course. If you are importing whole modules, expand the "Modules" section and click the checkboxes next to the modules you'd like to import. If you are importing pages, do the same for pages, etc...
    1. Note: If you import modules containing pages and assignments, you do not need to also select those pages and assignments individually. When you select a module, it imports all of the pages and assignments that module contains without the need to select them individually.
  3. After selecting all of the items you'd like to import, click the "Select Content" button to trigger the import of the selected content.
  1. The content import will now execute and the relevant line under "Current Jobs" will show a status of the progress of the import. When the status shows as "Completed", the content has now been imported into your new course. That's it!
    1. Note: If you imported specific pages or assignments, they will not yet appear in your modules. You'll need to click the + button on the module you want that page or assignment in, select it, and click "Add Item".

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