SIS ID Already in use message

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ray_senesac
Community Novice

We have an issue in which a we cannot push out a course shell to a teacher because Canvas gives us a message that tthe SIS ID is already assigned.  The teacher had an account that was manually created, but has since been deleted; and the SIS ID is not assigned to anyone else in the system. How do we manage the Canvas system so it allows the assignment of the SIS ID within  Canvas?

1 Solution
nr2522
Community Champion

Hi,  @ray_senesac ‌.

Many items (including users and courses) are not physically deleted in Canvas. They are merely logically deleted, still existing in the database but hidden from the UI.

My recommendation is to upload a SIS Import CSV file using the "change_sis_id.csv" format shown here: SIS Import Format Documentation - Canvas LMS REST API Documentation. The old_id should be the one that you wish to reuse. For the new_id I suggest using the old one with an extra character that wouldn't appear in an actual id. I typically add an underscore at the end. After you upload, you should be able to use the old id as if it had never been used before.

(Before they introduced this CSV format, we had to reactive the old id with the object type's respective CSV format, edit it in the UI, and then delete it again.)

Best,

Nelson

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