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.

Using Undelete

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.

course main page

2. Click at the URL in the address bar.

URL selected

3. Add "/undelete".

'/undelete' added to URL

4. Hit the Enter key.

Enter key selected

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.

Restore Deleted Items page displays

5. Click on Restore.

Restore button selected

6. Click on OK.

OK button selected.

The item has now been restored. You will need to verify that all components of the restored item are included.

Using the Beta site

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.

beta site

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.

message that site resets every week

3. Click on your desired course.

Using Video course selected

4. Click on Settings.

Setting link selected

5. Click on Export Course Content.

Export Course Content link selected

6. Click on Create Export.

Tip: If you only want to copy a Quiz activity, then select Quiz instead of Course.

Create Export button

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.

Export process bar

8. Return to your regular course and click on Import Existing Content.

Import Existing Content button

9. Using the dropdown menu, select Canvas Course Export Package.

Canvas Course Export Package selected

10. Click on Choose File.

Choose File button

11. Double-click on the export file.

IMSCC package selected

12. Tick Select specific content.

Select specific content selected

13. Click on Import.

Import button

14. Wait until the package has been unpacked.

Running message displayed

15. Click on Select Content.

Select Content button

16. Drill down and select the item you want to copy to your course.

Permalink external url selected

17. Click on Select Content.

Select Content button selected

18. The Completed message displays.

Completed message

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.

Permalink dragged to top of modules page

Article Summary

You have now learned how to undelete or restore an item in your course that you may have accidentally deleted.