How do I undelete or restore an activity, like a quiz or an assignment?
You will learn how to undelete or restore an activity or other Canvas course item that you accidentally deleted.
There are two methods: using the Undelete site and using the Beta site.
Note: This method is best of you have already done any grading of the Assignment that needs to be restored. If you use the beta site method, then the Assignment will have a different number and any submissions and grades will be lost.
1. Enter your course.
2. Click at the URL in the address bar.
3. Add "/undelete".
4. Hit the Enter key.
You can now see a list of items that can be restored.
Note: Not all deleted items can be fully restored. However, in the screenshot below, you can see a Discussion, an Assignment and files. The maximum listing is limited to 25 items.
Discussions and Assignments may be able to be fully restored along with any student submissions and grades.
This feature does not work with any of the Canvas elements that are LTI-based, such as New Quizzes.
5. Click on Restore.
6. Click on OK.
The item has now been restored. You will need to verify that all components of the restored item are included.
Another option for restoring lost content might be to go to the beta site for our instance of Canvas and then use export and import to bring in selected content items back into your original course.
Follow these steps to learn how to use the beta site to restore lost content items in your course.
Note: this method is only useful if the students have not yet submitted attempts and the instructor has not graded any of those attempts.
1. Using a new tab or window, go to the beta site.
Our beta site requires your same CSUF Portal login.
2. Note the message at the bottom of the page.
Since the beta site gets updated only once a week, your deleted item will only be here if it has been within the last time the site was updated.
3. Click on your desired course.
4. Click on Settings.
5. Click on Export Course Content.
6. Click on Create Export.
Tip: If you only want to copy a Quiz activity, then select Quiz instead of Course.
7. Wait until the package is created and downloads.
Unfortunately, aside from Classic Quizzes, if you want to export course content, you have to export the entire course, which if you have videos in that course, may take a while. Also, when you Import content, you have to import the entire package, so that may also take a while.
8. Return to your regular course and click on Import Existing Content.
9. Using the dropdown menu, select Canvas Course Export Package.
10. Click on Choose File.
11. Double-click on the export file.
12. Tick Select specific content.
13. Click on Import.
14. Wait until the package has been unpacked.
15. Click on Select Content.
16. Drill down and select the item you want to copy to your course.
17. Click on Select Content.
18. The Completed message displays.
19. Drag the item to where you want it to be.
The imported items will likely be at the bottom of the Modules page. Drag the item to where you want it to be and clean up any extra modules which were created by the import.
Related Guides
- Recovering Missing or Deleted Content in Canvas (video by Park University)
- Undeleting things in Canvas (blog post)
Article Summary
You have now learned how to undelete or restore an item in your course that you may have accidentally deleted.