Last updated on September 4, 2026
A Sandbox is a private, unpublished Canvas course. It is called a “Sandbox” because it is a place for instructors to “play around” by building new things. Instructors can create content and test out settings in a Sandbox course without worrying about accidentally deleting or altering content in their live course.
What Can I Do with a Sandbox?
A Sandbox has all of the capabilities of a regular course shell; it just doesn’t have any students enrolled in it. Sandboxes can be used for creating course content such as modules, pages, assignments, discussions, and quizzes. A Sandbox is a great place to experiment with different settings, such as notification settings and module prerequisites and requirements, as well as advanced features, such as third-party app integrations. Also, if you are importing content from another platform (such as Blackboard) into Canvas, we highly recommend that you import the content into a Sandbox to clean it up before moving it into your published course.
All of the self-help tutorials on our Ready site apply to Sandboxes as well. The pages below will be especially helpful when building course content:
- Modules Tutorials
- Assignments Tutorials
- Discussions Tutorials
- Quizzes/Tests Tutorials
- Videos Tutorials
Can I Move Content from My Sandbox to My Published Course?
Yes! Many instructors choose to build their course in a Sandbox, then copy the content into their published course shell when it is ready. One benefit of this method is that the Sandbox can then serve as a backup course with copies of all content. Please refer to the tutorial, Copy a Canvas Course for more information.
How Can I Get a Sandbox?
All MSU Denver instructors are automatically enrolled in five Sandbox courses. If you would like an additional sandbox course, you can submit a ticket to ITS.
If your Sandboxes are not listed on your Canvas Dashboard:
- Click Courses in the global navigation menu on the left side of the screen.
- Select All Courses.
- Locate your Sandbox Courses. They are called “Sandbox Course [#] – [Your Name].”
- If you would like to add Sandbox courses to your dashboard, please refer to the Edit Your Course Dashboard tutorial.
Have questions?
Need additional support on this or other teaching and learning topics? Please visit us for drop-in support or try one of our self-help tutorials.
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