[ARCHIVED] reset a course

[gmgosch]

I made a mistake and copied over a course that I had been working on.  How do I reset it back to where it was this morning ...prior to my mistake.

[Chris_Hofer · Accepted solution]

Hello  @gmgosch ...

Sorry to read about your course.  I have two possible scenarios, so please review both before doing anything to see if either of these apply to you:

Assuming that the course originally had content in it, you should be able to recover your course the way it was...but it will involve a few steps:

1. You'll want to log in to either your school's "Test" or "Beta" environment.  Either of these environments are separate from your school's "Production" environment...which is typically the Canvas environment that you are used to logging into normally.  To access either the "Test" or the "Beta" environment, check out one of these Guides:
   • How do I access the Canvas test environment as an instructor?
   • How do I access the Canvas beta environment as an instructor?
2. Once in either of those environments, find the course that you were working with (the one that you want restored).
3. Export the course, and save the exported file to your computer.  How do I export a Canvas course?
4. Log out of the "Test" or the "Beta" environment.  How do I log out of Canvas as an instructor?
5. Return to your "Production" environment, and navigate to the same course.
6. Reset the course.  This will wipe out the contents of the course.  How do I reset course content?
7. Import the course content using the export file you saved from your "Test" or "Beta" environment.  How do I import a Canvas course export package?

Another scenario might be that before you mistakenly copied over a course, it didn't have any content in it (the course shell was blank).  If this is the case, and you just want to wipe out the course completely, carry out Step #6 above.  Then, when you are ready to import content into that course again, use this Guide: How do I copy content from another Canvas course using the Course Import tool?.

I hope this will help a bit, Gayle.  Please let Community members know if you have any questions.  Be well...stay safe.