Clean Your Canvas Course with TidyUP

Quick Links: | Prerequisites | Instructions | Troubleshooting |

TidyUP helps instructors review and clean up their Canvas courses by identifying unused files, empty folders, and potentially unused course content. It also makes it easier to locate duplicate or outdated materials. Users can search for likely duplicates and assess content using information such as its publication status, usage, and last-updated date. Cleaning up your course can improve organization, storage management, and reduce the amount of material that may require accessibility remediation.

This guide will walk you through how to run a course scan using TidyUP and how to utilize the scan report to effectively manage your course content.

Prerequisites

Before you begin, ensure you meet the following requirements:

• Access to a Canvas course with editing permissions. Note: TidyUP may not work properly in concluded or past-term courses. To clean up a past course, first copy its content into a current sandbox course.
• TidyUP must be enabled in the course navigation menu.

Step-by-Step Instructions

To clean up your Canvas course using TidyUP, follow these steps:

1. From your Canvas course, select TidyUP from the course navigation menu.

2. On the TidyUP Welcome page, select the Scan Course button to start the process.
   

3. When prompted, choose whether to scan All File Types or use the Custom option to limit the scan to specific file types.

4. Select Start Scan to begin scanning your course. Once the scan is complete, you will be presented with a report organized into three tabs: Files, Folders, and Canvas Content.

   Note: Depending on the amount of content in your course, the scan may take a few seconds to several minutes. 

Reviewing the Files Tab

The Files tab initially displays files that TidyUP has identified as unused. Use the filters to display files that are currently in use or to narrow the results by file type.

To clean up unused files:

1. Use the headings at the top of the table to sort files alphabetically, by last update, or by file size.
2. Use the Search bar to quickly locate specific files, such as duplicates.
3. Apply filters on the right-hand side to view specific file types or show files currently in use.

Important: “Unused” means TidyUP did not find a link to the file in the Canvas content it scanned. Before deleting a file, confirm that it is not used in quiz questions, question banks, New Quizzes, item banks, external tools, or other content that TidyUP may not scan. 

To delete files:

• Delete an individual file by selecting the trash-can icon to the right of the file name.
• Delete multiple files by selecting the checkboxes next to the files, then select Download Selected to save them as a ZIP file before selecting Delete Selected to remove the files from the course.
• Delete all unused files by selecting the checkbox next to File Name in the table header, then select Download Selected to save all files as a ZIP file before selecting Delete Selected to remove them.

Before deleting files, we recommend using Download Selected to save a backup copy. Carefully review files used in quizzes, question banks, New Quizzes, item banks, or external tools because TidyUP may not detect every use. You might consider Creating a Quiz using all your Question Banks. You can set the quiz as Unpublished so it will not count in the grades. 

Reviewing the Folders Tab

As you delete unused files, you may be left with empty folders in your course. In your TidyUP report, the Folders tab helps you identify and remove these empty folders.

To delete empty folders:

1. Navigate to the Folders tab.
2. Review the list of empty folders.
3. Select the checkboxes next to the folders you want to delete, then select Delete Selected.

Reviewing the Canvas Content Tab

The Canvas Content tab lists the course’s pages, assignments, quizzes, and discussions. It includes information such as whether each item is published, whether it contains content, when it was last updated, and how it is used in the course. Use this information to identify duplicate, empty, outdated, or unlinked content.

To review course content:

1. Navigate to the Canvas Content tab.
2. Review the list of items.
3. Use the Search bar or filters to locate specific content.

You can choose to keep, update, or delete outdated content based on your course organization needs.

Finalizing Your Cleanup

After you have reviewed and deleted files, folders, and course content in your TidyUP report,

1. Double-check your course for any remaining outdated content that may not have been caught by TidyUP.
2. Review the course from the Modules area and, when appropriate, use Student View to confirm that the remaining content is organized and accessible as intended.

Troubleshooting

If you encounter any issues while using TidyUP, consider the following tips:

• TidyUP not appearing in your course navigation: Go to Settings > Navigation and enable TidyUP. If you're working in a past term, copy your course to a new sandbox. 
• Scan taking too long: Larger courses may take more time to scan. If a course takes more than an hour to scan, reach out to the Technology & Learning program.
• Accidentally deleted content: First check Canvas’s course undelete page to determine whether the item can be restored. If it is unavailable, restore the item from the backup downloaded before cleanup or contact the Technology & Learning Program.
• TidyUP will not open or displays an authentication error: Your browser’s privacy settings may be blocking the cookies or cross-site access TidyUP needs to open within Canvas. Review the troubleshooting steps for opening TidyUP.

For more detailed troubleshooting, refer to the TidyUP User Guide.