Canvas: Publish/Unpublish Content Items | IT@UMN

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Most items created in your Canvas course (files, assignments, pages, modules, etc.) must be published before they are visible to students. In addition, the course itself must be published before students can access it. (See Publish a Course.)

• Published content is indicated by a green check mark symbol to the right of the item.
• Unpublished content is indicated by a grey international no symbol to the right of the item.

Publishing/Unpublishing Individual Content

Content can be published or unpublished by clicking the appropriate symbol next to each item. This action can be done anywhere that the item is listed with this published/unpublished icon (e.g. in Modules, Assignments, etc.).

Publishing/Unpublishing Modules

Click the appropriate symbol to the right of the Module name to publish or unpublish it.

• Note: When you publish a Module, any unpublished individual module items will automatically be published. You may want to postpone publishing a Module until all module items are ready. Or you can publish the Module and then unpublish individual items as desired.

Last modified

Changed October 31, 2025

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