Feature request: Can you please stop automatically publishing imported quizzes?

I always want to fix and update my quizzes when I import them. Obviously, if I'm copying a quiz from last year, I'm not going to be able to update it in the old course because it's locked. That means you need to unpublish it as soon as you import it, or else some kid is going to click on it and get the wrong version. It always takes a minute or two for quizzes to load in the new course, so I have to sit on the page and refresh it in order to catch the quiz to unpublish it.

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Accepted answers

Chris

Hi @awiesler,

Thanks for taking the time to share your idea/feedback with the community. While the Instructure Community forums are a great place to continue to ask how-to questions or for troubleshooting, there is a new dedicated space for ideas, the Collaborative Roadmap.

Posting your idea to the new Collaborative Roadmap will ensure your feedback reaches appropriate Instructure Product Managers and teams developing the products, and doesn’t get lost here in the general forums. Please explore the new dedicated Product Connection space, which includes the Collaborative Roadmap. You can read Shiren's blog post for a full look at how the Collaborative Roadmaps give you a clearer view of what’s coming soon, what’s in development, and what’s under consideration.

🚩 I’m marking this response as the "Answer" to help guide other users with ideas or feature requests to the right place.

-Chris

All comments

Todd_E

I copy to a 3rd site, unpublish and then copy to the destination site.

But yeah it sure would be nice to be able to unpublish it in one step. Also duplicating quizzes without having to do the same thing.

jeremyfw

HI @awiesler

If you are using New Quizzes, then you may be able to export the quiz as a QTI zip package and then reimport into the new course (unpublished by default).

One approach that has helped my team avoid this problem is to separate assessment management from assessment delivery.

Canvas works extremely well as a delivery layer for quizzes inside a course, but it’s not always ideal as the long-term storage location for reusable assessment assets. That’s where a third-party assessment manager can help.

In our case, we use a tool called Canvas Question Bank Platform as the single source of truth for quizzes and question banks. All assessment content lives there first. From that environment you can revise questions, rebuild quizzes, or version assessments without worrying about course locks or publishing states.

When the quiz is ready, it gets pushed to Canvas in one of two ways:

• Export as a QTI package and import it into the target course (it comes in unpublished)
• Send it directly to the course via Canvas API connection (or personal access token)

This workflow avoids the “import → wait → unpublish → edit” cycle entirely. Canvas remains the place where quizzes are delivered to students, while the question bank platform becomes the place where assessments are actually managed and maintained.

For instructors reusing quizzes across terms, treating Canvas as the delivery layer and keeping the editable source outside the LMS can make the whole process much smoother.

Cheers,
J

RobDitto

QTI zip package and then reimport into the new course (unpublished by default).

These are not always going to arrive unpublished! Our institution is continuing to report this and related problems with Duplicate and Copy To imports

clpatter

I did some testing to find a better way.

The trick is using Unpublished Modules so that students can't access the imported quizzes, even if the quizzes are published.

To move one quiz, I created an unpublished module in the destination course and used Copy To and copied the quiz directly into the unpublished module.

To move multiple quizzes at once, I created an unpublished module in the originating course, moved all the quizzes I wanted to copy into that module, and then used Copy To and copied the entire module to the new course.

In both cases, the copied quizzes were not available to the students.

paul_fynn

We recommend all quizzes are set up with an access code in case this happens.

Chris

Hi @awiesler,

🚩 I’m marking this response as the "Answer" to help guide other users with ideas or feature requests to the right place.

-Chris

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