How do I batch update dates for announcements?

[ansburg]

I've copied my course over from a previous semester and was easily able to batch update assignment due dates. But, I cannot figure out how to batch update the release dates of my announcements. Am I stuck updating the release date of each announcement one at a time?

Thanks,

Pam

[gnoack · Accepted solution]

Unfortunately, this is one of the issues with Canvas that Instructure needs to work on.  I don't know of a way to bulk edit announcement dates. You do have to edit the dates before the course is published or students may have access to them and may even get a notification. Outside of editing each announcement before the start of the semester, I have found two other solutions and neither are great. 

One option is to delete all of the announcements at the beginning of the semester, then copy and paste them back in from previous courses as needed.  I've found this is the easier for me as I don't always decide to use the same announcements each semester.

The other option is to open them all, change their publish date to a date after the course ends, then edit them as needed throughout the semester.  

(I said neither solution was great.)

[Outekhine]

Yes! Can someone answer this? There should be a way to make the announcement blind to students without having to change the posting date.

[gnoack · Accepted solution]

Unfortunately, this is one of the issues with Canvas that Instructure needs to work on.  I don't know of a way to bulk edit announcement dates. You do have to edit the dates before the course is published or students may have access to them and may even get a notification. Outside of editing each announcement before the start of the semester, I have found two other solutions and neither are great. 

One option is to delete all of the announcements at the beginning of the semester, then copy and paste them back in from previous courses as needed.  I've found this is the easier for me as I don't always decide to use the same announcements each semester.

The other option is to open them all, change their publish date to a date after the course ends, then edit them as needed throughout the semester.  

(I said neither solution was great.)

[henzeb]

Totally agreed. Unfortunately, Canvas seems like it's ignored this very suggestion (despite tons of support for it) since at least 2015 (cf. Idea Conversation: Publish and Unpublish Announcements), so it doesn't seem like the developers are listening. 😞

[Stef_retired · Accepted solution]

Hi, @henzeb , the idea conversation to which you'd want to add your comments and rating is  Bulk Editing Options for Announcements . 

And yes: we're listening.  🙂 Canvas Announcements and Discussions share the same basic platform, and we're in the thick of an enhancement project for them. We hope you'll join the  Discussions/Announcements Redesign and participate in the discussions and product managers' requests for feedback there.

[sandy_zetlan]

FOUR YEARS? that is how long it's taking for someone to figure out a way to transfer ANNOUNCEMENTS easily from semester to semester? FOUR YEARS?

No one is actually working on this in INSTRUCTURE, are they? 

[nathan_bockelma]

Agreed. It doesn't seem like this is actually being worked on or is not a priority at all. Im gunna throw my hat in too and say: CAN WE PLEASE FIX THIS ISSUE? It's wasting so much of my time and seems so unnecessary! Thank you!

[MJerbi1111M]

Any updates on this feature, or a timeline on when it'll be developed? When you import a Canvas course into another Canvas course shell, announcement posting dates do not update even if you shifted the course dates during the import process. 

[pjonas1]

While we’re at it, can we get our profile pictures to reattach when we purposefully copy over announcements from another course?

The idea that we’re supposed to copy/paste every announcement and manually change every date on every course copy is mental.