Duplicate, Clone, or Copy anything in Canvas

[jthoms]

This idea has been developed and deployed to Canvas

An option to "make a copy" should be present on nearly every gear in Canvas -- modules, quizzes, assignments, announcements, pages, discussions, rubrics...

Consistency is an important element of good course design, and this would help instructors and designers achieve it more easily.

Ideas related to this have been developed and depoyed

This idea was completed through the Khaki 2017: Priorities & Related Ideas. 

Here are the content items that were completed as part of Khaki

- Module Item Duplication: Canvas Production Release Notes (2017-11-18) 

- Module Duplication: Canvas Production Release Notes (2018-06-23) 

- Assignment Duplication: Canvas Production Release Notes (2017-07-15) 

- Discussion Duplication: Canvas Production Release Notes (2017-10-28) 

- Page Duplication: Canvas Production Release Notes (2017-07-15) 

You can read more about Khaki in What in the world does “Khaki” have to do with Canvas?‌

*We know that the ability to copy a rubric from the rubric manager does not currently exist, but we have elected to mark this idea as complete anyways.  If copying a rubric is something that you think should be developed, please add your comment and vote to https://community.canvaslms.com/ideas/5167" modifiedtitle="true" title="Copy a rubric.

[cgottlieb]

Unfortunatley you are going to find a plethora of deficiencies in canvas.

[alfio_grasso]

Should be a basic facility!

As well as copy group sets from one set to another, since assessments can only have one group set!

[drush]

I would greatly appreciate an option to "copy/export to" on the screen I'm working with, so if I want to create a page or assignment in one course, I can easily copy/export it to one or more other courses.  Right now creating something once and then having to go into another course to import selectively or entirely is about as click happy and clunky as "copy/paste".  I have 18 courses to manage and frequently need a page or assignment from one to use for 5 or 17 other courses.

[woocw]

I used Desire2Learn (D2L) in my previous institution. It has a function of setting # of same assignments all at once. When I created an assignment, I could set up 10 weekly assignments all at once. After I create those 10 weekly assignments which has, for example, Friday due date every week, I could go to each assignment and customize for each assignment little bit as well.

I truly believe that Canvas has some great functions that D2L or Blackboard does not have. Especially, reminding due dates to students and being able to set up different due dates for individual students, etc. are very convenient for students, which is also good for me because I don't have to remind them all the time.

So, if Canvas becomes little bit more educator-friendly, it will be great.  

[Stef_retired]

For anyone interested in this topic, be sure to RSVP to the CanvasLIVE event Ask Me Anything: Kate McGee, Product Manager, Commons+Content, which is coming up on Thursday, October 20, 2016. Kate is going to be answering questions about Canvas Commons, master courses, templates, and the content authoring tools in Canvas--and, well, anything! If you’re interested, but your schedule doesn’t allow you to attend in real time, RSVP "no" or "maybe" so you can receive any post-event updates.

[vaughant]

The lack of an ability to easily clone items in Canvas is one its more annoying features. I have been using Moodle for over 10 years. Moodle has had the ability to clone items for many years. I use it all the time.   I am being force to move to Canvas because the California Community Colleges Chancellors Office adopted it, and so it is "free" to use for all the Community Colleges.  I really regret this, because the decision to go with Canvas, rather than a thriving international open-source project like Moodle, means we are all at the mercy of a private company to fix problems like this. Moodle is not perfect, but it is easy to use and the latest generation (version 3) is every bit as nice as Canvas.  I know they claim Canvas is open-source, but open-source software might as well be proprietary if it is poorly documented or cryptic, perhaps by design. The fact that Canvas users have been asking for the ability to clone things for years speaks to this lack of true code transparency in Canvas source code. Now that Instructure has California's money, I won't hold my breath. Sorry I am not a flag waving Canvas fan but I will keep trying to like it.

[vaughant]

Yes, Moodle spoiled me. I wish that the State of California Community Colleges would have helped the international Moodle project instead of Canvas. In my opinion, Moodle 3 is every bit nice as Canvas, and Moodle is truly free and open source software.

[nlatimer]

Hi...just playing "catch-up" here. I have previously read about issues with using the "import content" feature to copy content from a course into the same course. For example, apparently, the original content can get overwritten when you edit the copy. I would like to verify that this will NOT happen if we use Commons to copy the content from a course and then import the content back into the same course.

Example:

• Copy Quiz from Course A to Commons
• Import same Quiz from Commons back to same Course A
• Edit the COPY of the quiz without affecting the original quiz

Also, if there's a better way, please let me know. This does seem a lot easier, though, than using the Import Content (specific content) option.  Thanks!

[SethBattis]

So nlatimer​, yeah… importing from Commons to create duplicates is not infallible. You won't actually overwrite the original that you published to the Commons, but if you try to import a ​third​ copy into the course, it will just keep overwriting the ​second​ copy (your ​first import).

[nlatimer]

 @SethBattis ​, thank you for your reply. So it sounds as if this is the same problem that you get when you try to do the import into a course and then do the copy more than once.  Well, at least it's a little easier to use Commons. It would be great, though, to avoid this altogether. :smileyplain: