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Files management

John_Gaspar

After 7 years of building, iterating, and updating, there is a lot of detritus in some courses. Removing superseded pages, assignments, and discussions is easy enough but is there a clever way of identifying artifacts in Files that are no long embedded in pages, assignments, discussions, etc?

It would be great to have a column, link or flag in Files to show if an item is / isn't being used.

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Accepted answers

MikeCowen

Hi @John_Gaspar ! I hear ya on the procurement process. Just for fun, I created a Chrome extension that scans the current course and does what, I think, you're asking for. I posted it in Github here: https://github.com/timelord4/canvasUnusedFileFinder/blob/main/README.md

I also included a document that an AI can use called RECREATE_PROJECT_FROM_SCRATCH.md in the project so people can build the same thing, or close to it, if they would prefer to not trust my (Codex) code.

Hope this helps!

All comments

LMacaulay

I requested this as a feature idea under the old community feature idea system and requested it be a column similar to what we have for rubrics. It never got prioritized, but I agree, it is sorely needed! Even if we could tell which file is actually "the one" linked when we are checking a course, that would help. I have found no way to reconcile what the file number is that we see in the link to what is in files.

jcarpenter1

Good morning, @John_Gaspar ! Have you tried running a validate links report? If the file is linked somewhere, this report will show you where it is. It's a great tool to use!

How do I validate links in a course?

Chris_Hofer

I know there are a couple third-party products out there that can help assist with getting rid of unused content pages and files in your course. One of those is the Cidi Labs product TidyUP. Simple Higher Ed (Simple Syllabus) also has a similar product via their Simple Prep tool called Clean Up. These are both paid products, and they integrate with Canvas. But, you'd have to contact those companies to see what options are available for you.

John_Gaspar

@LMacaulay I added my request to the Collaborative Roadmap > Share a contribution. Here's hoping there are other, similar requests.

John_Gaspar

@jcarpenter1 - thanks for the suggestion. I'm a regular user of the validate links tool but as far as I can tell it works the other way to what I'm looking for. If a page has a link to a pdf that's been removed, the validator will tell me. But if the page is removed from the site, and the pdf stays in Files, it wont appear on the report.
Or is there a way to tweak the tool so it tells you filse (jpgs, pdfs, etc) that are no longer attached to a page, discussion, assignment, etc?

John_Gaspar

@Chris_Hofer I don't mind a good third party tool and we use quite a few. I'll have a look at the two you linked but we have a lengthy procurement process so wouldn't be available for me to use until next year some time.

MikeCowen

Hope this helps!

John_Gaspar

@MikeCowen thanks for that extension. It does what I was hoping for and will be great until Instructure makes it happen.

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