Possible to delete files from inside .imscc file?

[fbidwell]

Is it possible to delete files from inside an *.imscc file?  I have an instructor who is bringing over a course from another university that is 6.75 GB, which is over our maximum 5 GB course size. 

I renamed the imscc file as a zip file so that I can see inside. Part of the reason the imscc file is so large is because many of the large video and pptx files are duplicated/triplicated. If I can delete those from the imscc file, then I can import the course. I tried unzipping the file, deleting some things, rezipping, renaming to imscc, and importing to Canvas, but the import failed.  Is there another way? 

I don't think this instructor will have access to her old university's Canvas to make these deletions and re-export.

[mzimmerman · Accepted solution]

Take a look at the folder arrangement within the .zip file.  When zipping a folder, some zip utilities put that folder as the top level, then put all the files under that folder within the zip folder structure.

The "imsmanifest.xml" file has to be at the top level within the .zip file folder structure.

[mzimmerman]

Hi,

Did you get any specific kind of error message when importing?

I was able to delete files from an export file, zip it back up ("compress file" on Mac), and re-import with only a couple of warnings about broken links/missing content.  The import process actually does not care whether the extension is .imscc or .zip, from what I can see, as long as the file structure is correct.

[fbidwell]

Thanks for the reply!  Yes, I get "Unsupported content package" when trying to import "Canvas course export package."  I tried it again just now without renaming it as an imscc file, and just left it as a .zip.

It's encouraging that you were able to get it to work. I felt sure that I've done this before with success. So maybe I'm just doing something wrong somewhere in the process.

[mzimmerman · Accepted solution]

Take a look at the folder arrangement within the .zip file.  When zipping a folder, some zip utilities put that folder as the top level, then put all the files under that folder within the zip folder structure.

The "imsmanifest.xml" file has to be at the top level within the .zip file folder structure.

[fbidwell · Accepted solution]

YES!!  This is the problem.  THANK YOU!!

I had zipped the folder by compressing the folder itself which resulted in the top level folder being at the top level of the zip file, exactly as you said. The solution was to select all the files/folders inside the folder and compress those. Worked perfectly.  

THANK YOU!!