Possible to see course locations where uploaded files and images are used?

[jdick1]

I'm assisting an instructor with some spring cleaning of a course that's going to re-run in a bit and one of the items on the checklist is reorganizing course assets (mostly images) into file folders to make things easier to find and update upon future course revisions.

Is there a way to see where an asset is used from the Files page, or will I have to click through page-by-page to see where things are used?

(Also possibly of interest for my fellow Canvas newbies that I just discovered: you can drag and drop files to reorganize!)

[lturner2]

Hi  @jdick1 ,

One of the hidden gems within the Admin Settings is the Reports area. I know some folks spend more time here than others, and I am one who has come to appreciate the (simple) data mining that is available.

Now, I will admit up front that you were asking for specific pages, which I don't believe is possible (but there are those out there who might just come along and prove me wrong, which I'm ok with...lol) but if you at least want a relatively simple way of knowing which courses/sections have files, and how much space you're dealing with, running the "Course Storage" report is extremely helpful!

Once the report is complete, it can be opened inside Excel...here is a cut-n-paste of the header names and some random data from my list.

id	sis id	short name	name	account id	account sis id	account name	storage used in MB	sum of all files in MB
91		Sandbox	Turner Sandbox	1		Weimar Institute	0	4.70
72		Default	Prin of Health	7		Religion Department	0	92.6
87		English 1	English 1	2		Nursing Department	0	0

[robotcars]

I know this doesn't solve the OP's particular problem, but I thought I'd add some examples of this using Canvas Data for the Group.

Supply the course_id and the filename, returns a list of pages in the course with that file. Can be used to find any string.

I append the Term, because it's often useful when you expand the scope beyond a single course.

-- target a course, and search for a string
SELECT
     wiki_page_dim.title AS page_title,
     course_dim.canvas_id AS course_id,
     course_dim.name AS course_name,
     enrollment_term_dim.name AS term_name
FROM CanvasLMS.dbo.wiki_page_dim 
     JOIN CanvasLMS.dbo.wiki_page_fact ON wiki_page_dim.id = wiki_page_fact.wiki_page_id
     JOIN CanvasLMS.dbo.course_dim ON wiki_page_fact.parent_course_id = course_dim.id
     JOIN CanvasLMS.dbo.enrollment_term_dim ON course_dim.enrollment_term_id = enrollment_term_dim.id
WHERE
     course_dim.canvas_id = 123456
     AND body LIKE '%Clock Icon.jpg%';‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍

Here's a query to find EVERY course a file is used in, across terms with some additional details.

We use this to track course content because we version courses with an image file naming convention.

-- PATINDEX is MSSQL specific, there are alternatives for other DB Engines
SELECT
     file_dim.canvas_id AS file_id,
     display_name AS file_name,
     user_dim.canvas_id AS user_id,
     user_dim.name AS uploaded_by,
     course_dim.canvas_id AS course_id,
     course_dim.name AS course_name,
     course_dim.created_at AS course_created_at,
     account_dim.canvas_id AS account_id,
     account_dim.name,
     account_dim.parent_account,
     account_dim.grandparent_account,
     enrollment_term_dim.canvas_id AS term_id,
     enrollment_term_dim.name AS term_name
FROM CanvasLMS.dbo.file_dim
     JOIN CanvasLMS.dbo.user_dim ON file_dim.uploader_id = user_dim.id
     JOIN CanvasLMS.dbo.account_dim ON file_dim.account_id = account_dim.id
     JOIN CanvasLMS.dbo.course_dim ON file_dim.course_id = course_dim.id
     JOIN CanvasLMS.dbo.enrollment_term_dim ON course_dim.enrollment_term_id = enrollment_term_dim.id
WHERE PATINDEX('OBL-%-%-[0-9].[0-9].png',display_name) = 1;

-- for specific files, use a filename
-- WHERE display_name = 'OBL-WorldHistory-S1-1.0.png'‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍