TidyUP Makes Course Organization Easy

In our first Easy Fix, we focused on Canvas accessibility tools. Today, we’ll be looking at TidyUP. TidyUP is a content cleanup tool for Canvas courses that identifies potentially unnecessary content in your course site. Examples of unwanted content may include outdated, duplicate, or unused files.

Rather than manually search for unwanted content, you can use TidyUP to automatically identify and remove content for a streamlined, organized course. Doing so will give you a more accurate Ally accessibility score and ultimately lessen your workload when preparing your course.

How to Use TidyUP

Select TidyUP from your Course Navigation menu, on the left side of your Canvas course page.

(TidyUP not appearing in your Course Navigation menu? See our Canvas support article TidyUP Overview to learn more)

You may have to authorize TidyUP’s request to access your account. Ensure All is selected for File Types to Include. Then, click Scan Course.

Files

Files refers to documents, PDFs, PowerPoints, and images within your course.

After you scan your course, the Files tab will be automatically selected.

Please note that deleting files with TidyUP will delete them permanently. If you want to save files but still delete them from your Canvas course, select the top check box next to the File Name heading and then click Download Selected.

1. Locate your course files under File Name. You’ll be able to see where the file is being used (if it is), when it was last updated, and the size of the file.
2. Delete unused, duplicate, or outdated files by individually selecting the trash can icon next to each file. Note that TidyUP cannot delete files that are in use.
3. To delete all unused files at once, filter them by selecting Unused Files from the Show dropdown. Then, select the top check box next to the File Name heading and click Delete Selected.

If you want to edit the visibility or names of any of your files, you can do so by selecting the pencil icon corresponding to each file.

Canvas Content

Canvas Content refers to pages, assignments, quizzes, announcements, and discussions within your course.

1. Click the Canvas Content tab after you’ve finished with your files. You can filter different content by using the Type dropdown. You can also use the Published, In Modules, and Has Content filters with green check and grey cross-out buttons to specify content. Additional columns on the tab can tell you where your Canvas content is being used and when it was last updated.

2. Use the different columns and filters to decide what content you would like to delete from your course. You can delete individually by selecting the trash can icon or by clicking the top check box next to the Title heading and then clicking Delete Selected.

If you want to edit the titles or published status of any of your Canvas content, you can do so by selecting the pencil icon corresponding to each type of content.

Folders

Folders refers to the containers for different groups of content within your course.

Although you may be less likely to delete an entire folder from your Canvas course, you may do so by clicking the Folders tab. There, you can review the Folder Path, the number of files and subfolders in each folder, and when the folder was last updated. You can also edit the visibility or names of each folder by selecting the pencil icon corresponding to each folder.

Easy Fix Recap

So far in our 2024 campaign, we've covered Canvas’s built-in accessibility tools. Be sure to return to that Easy Fix as you work to improve your courses’ accessibility ratings. For more accessibility information, see our Ally Resource Guide.