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Copy a Canvas Course

Last updated on March 23, 2026

The start of a new semester can be a stressful time for instructors. Fortunately, there is one major part that is quick and painless: copying forward your Canvas course into a new shell. With just a little preparation, you can copy your course into the new semester; the whole process only takes about 10 minutes!

To make sure you’re copying the right content and not accidentally creating duplicates, we strongly advise you to follow the instructions we’ve provided here. While it may seem simpler to just choose a course and copy all of the content, this can create duplicates of template material and make finding the correct content more challenging. Don’t worry though! It takes just a little extra time to do everything right and you’ll be glad you did!

If you need any help at all with this process, please don’t hesitate to reach out. Our CTLD instructional design support specialists are ready to help you during our drop-in hours or via email or voicemail.

Best Practices

  • Your new course shells for the upcoming semester will be available in your account a couple of months before the new term, but we recommend holding off on copying until the current class ends. If you make any changes to the current course, they won’t be reflected in the new course.
  • It’s a good idea to make changes you want for the new course after completing the copy process. That way you’ll maintain a record of exactly how the class looked in the previous semester.
  • You can copy any course you’ve taught at MSU Denver on Canvas.
  • You’ll want to do a little prep work in the new and old courses before you copy. This just takes a few minutes and it will help make sure you don’t have annoying and confusing duplicate content.
  • If you think you’ve made a mistake and things look wrong, don’t worry! We can help you fix nearly any kind of problem and whatever has happened is almost certainly reversible. Please use the support resources above if you think something is wrong.

Let’s walk through it together!

click to view in fullscreen

Clean Up the Old Course

  1. Go to MSU Denver’s Faculty and Staff Hub.
  2. Click Quick Links on the top right of the page.
  3. Click Canvas from the menu options that appear.
  4. Log in to your Canvas Account.
  5. Open the Old Course in Canvas. This is the course you are copying from.
  6. Click Modules in the left-hand course navigation menu.
  7. Find the Course Information module.
  8. Click the More Options (3 Dots) button to the right of the module name.
  9. Click Edit in the drop-down menu.
  10. Click the Text Field with the module name.
  11. Change the Name by adding some sort of signifier that this is the Course Information module that you have edited and would like to keep using.
    • For example, you could add the course name to the end, such as Course Information – PSY 1001.
    • Note: This step helps you identify your introduction module vs. the Blueprint Module that will be automatically added to your course.
  12. Click Save in the bottom right-hand corner.
  13. Turn off Missing and Late work policies.
    • Click Grades from the left-side course navigation menu.
    • Click the Settings Gear in the top right corner of the screen.
    • Uncheck the box next to Automatically apply grade for missing submissions.
    • Uncheck the box next to Automatically apply deduction to late submissions
    • Click Apply Settings.
    • Note: This will stop Canvas from automatically giving students zeros or late deductions before you are able to change the due dates for assignments. You can turn this setting back on once your due dates are correct.

Prep the New Course

  1. Open the New Course in Canvas. This is the course you are copying into.
  2. Click Modules in the left-hand course navigation menu.
  3. Find the Course Information module.
  4. Click the More Options (3 Dots) button to the right of the module name.
  5. Click Delete.
    • You may also choose to delete the Sample Module if you no longer need the template.
  6. Click OK when asked if you’re sure you want to delete the module.

Copy the Course

  1. Open the New Course in Canvas. This is the course you are copying into.
  2. Or click Home, if you are already in the course.
  3. Click Import Existing Content in the right-hand course options menu.
  4. Click the drop-down menu under Select Content Type.
  5. Click Copy a Canvas Course.
  6. Click the drop-down menu under Search for a course.
  7. Click the name of the Old Course.
  8. Click the circle next to Select Specific Content.
    • Optional – Click Adjust Events and Due Dates and fill out the information if you want Canvas to automatically adjust the dates for your content.
  9. Click the blue + Add to Import Queue button.
  10. Click Select Content to the right of the new copy job.
  11. Check the boxes next to:
    • Course Settings
      1. Make sure you have turned off the Automatically Apply Zeros to Missing Work setting before copying over the course setting.
    • Syllabus Body
    • Modules
      1. Click the arrow next to Modules.
      2. Uncheck the boxes next to University Policies and Resources and Sample Module (Copy Me).
        1. There may be multiple of these modules, in that case, uncheck them all.
      3. Uncheck the boxes next to any Course Information modules that are not the ones you marked when cleaning up your old course.
    • Assignments
      1. Click the arrow next to Assignments
      2. Uncheck any boxes next to empty assignment groups (an assignment group is empty if there is no number indicating the number of assignments next to it).
      3. Note: This will automatically check any quizzes or Discussion topics that are in the modules selected to copy over. If you have any quizzes or discussions that are not part of a module, click the arrow next to that section, and check the box next to that item.
    • Question Banks
    • Rubrics
    • Learning Outcomes
    • Files
    • Optional: Announcements
      1. Some faculty prefer to create new announcements each semester, while others like to reuse old announcements. 
  12. Do not check the boxes next to Pages or External Tools.
    • Any page in a module will be copied over as long as that module is selected. Copying over all pages will result in duplicates. If you have any pages that are not part of a module, you can copy them over using the copy to feature.
    • The External tools, YuJa and Report an Accessibility Issue are automatically added to every Canvas Course. If you have any additional external tools, you select those.
  13. Click Select Content when ready.

After the CopyThere’s not much left to do after copying your course. Here are a few things to consider.

By the end of the last semester, nearly all of the content was probably published, so it’s a good idea to go through and check that only the content you want is published (the green checkmark appears to the right of the content).

  • You’ll want to change the due dates for all of your assignments or check the accuracy of the due dates if you chose Adjust Events and Due Dates during the copy process. Our Adjust Due Dates for All Assignments tutorial can walk you through a quick and easy way to do that.
  • Groups don’t copy over, so if your class uses groups for group assignments, you can view our Create Groups in Canvas tutorial for help making new ones.
  • Reset any missing or late policies in the gradebook. View our Late Policies tutorial for help in setting up these policies.
  • Update any Lock Until dates in your modules to the dates for the new semester. See our tutorial, Lock a Module Until a Certain Date and Time for guidance.
  • By the end of the last semester, nearly all of the content was probably published, so it’s a good idea to go through and check that only the content you want is published (the green checkmark appears to the right of the content).

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