Publish And Unpublish An Item Or Module In Canvas

TC Technology Knowledge Base / Canvas for Faculty / Publish a Canvas Course for Student Access Publish and unpublish an item or module in Canvas

Updated on Jun 23, 2025

Canvas allows you to work on a draft of your course content (e.g., quizzes, assignments, pages) before making it visible to students. When you are ready for students to see the content, you will need to publish the individual item and the module in which it is contained.

Heading anchor Expand or collapse content Find your Canvas course

Heading anchor 1. Log into the TC portal.

Students: https://student.tc.columbia.edu

Employee: https://employee.tc.columbia.edu

Heading anchor 2. In the applications Tab, click Canvas.

Heading anchor 3. Click Dashboard in the Global Navigation Menu.

Heading anchor 4. Click a course card to access that course.

Heading anchor 1. Click Modules in the Course Navigation Menu.

Heading anchor 2. To publish an item or module, click the unpublished icon of the item or module that you would like to publish. When the module is published, a green circle with a check will appear.

Heading anchor 3. To unpublish an item or module, click the publish icon of the item or module that you would like to unpublish. When the module is unpublished, a green circle with a check will disappear.

If your items are in an unpublished module or unpublished course, the content is not visible to students even though the individual items are published. Be sure to publish the module and follow these instructions to publish your course.

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Canvas for Faculty

Get Started with Canvas 18

• Find your Canvas course
• Get Canvas help
• Set your Canvas notifications
• Add a profile picture to Canvas
• Add an event to the Canvas calendar
• Change what courses appear on your Canvas Dashboard
• Move course cards on your Canvas Dashboard
• Change the nickname of a Canvas course
• Add an image to your Canvas course card
• View your Canvas course as a student
• Share a link to a Canvas course
• Download a student roster in Canvas
• Send a message to all course users in Canvas
• Sign into the Canvas Teacher app with a TC UNI (Instructor)
• Create appointment slots in the Canvas calendar
• View student activity on the Canvas People page
• Delete Announcements in Canvas
• Import a past Canvas course in a new course

Canvas Basics: Pages & Modules 25

• Add a syllabus to your Canvas course
• Create an announcement in Canvas
• Create a module in Canvas
• Add an item to a module in Canvas
• Add a file to a module in Canvas
• Make a video for a module in Canvas
• Move items within a Canvas module
• Indent a module item in Canvas
• Create a page in Canvas
• Add a website link to a page in Canvas
• Allow file attachments in Canvas Discussions
• Set the front page of a Canvas course
• Change the home page of a Canvas course
• Change sharing settings for a Google Doc collaboration in Canvas
• Upload files to a Canvas course
• Link to a Canvas course file within a page
• Upload a file directly to a page in Canvas
• Recover deleted course content in Canvas
• Embed a Google Doc syllabus in your Canvas course
• Add a direct link to your Google Doc syllabus
• Replace a PDF Syllabus in Canvas
• Upload and Embed a PDF Syllabus in Canvas
• Delete Content in Canvas
• Create a folder in the Files section of Canvas
• Edit a Module on Canvas

Publish a Canvas Course for Student Access 2

• Publish and unpublish an item or module in Canvas
• Publish a Canvas course making it viewable to students

Canvas Gradebook 5

• Find your Canvas Gradebook
• Arrange columns in the Canvas Gradebook
• Enter a grade with SpeedGrader in Canvas
• Change the status of a grade in Canvas
• Leave a comment in the Canvas Gradebook

Canvas Quizzes and Surveys 5

• Create a quiz with individual questions in Canvas
• Give extra time for a quiz in Canvas
• Assign a different quiz date and time to students in Canvas
• Create a survey in Canvas
• View anonymous survey results in Canvas

Settings in Canvas 6

• Show a link on your Canvas Course Navigation
• Hide and reorder Canvas Course Navigation links
• Change your Canvas course end date
• Change your Canvas course start date
• Set Home Page as the Modules Page in Canvas
• Enable Attendance in Canvas

Add/Remove People in Canvas Course 2

• Add a TC Student (Participating Auditor) to your Canvas course
• Add a TC Student to a non-Banner Canvas course

Access Canvas as a Guest Without a UNI 2

• Accept Canvas course invitation without a TC UNI
• Reset your Canvas password

Recording in Canvas 1

• Uploading captions to videos in Canvas

Error Messages in Canvas 1

• Receive an Undelivered Message in Canvas

Canvas Analytics 8

• View average course grade analytics in Canvas' New Analytics
• Compare the Canvas course average with an assignment, section, or student in New Analytics
• Compare Student Course Grade to Course Average in Canvas
• Identify and Email Students in Canvas Based on Assignment Grades
• View weekly online activity analytics in Canvas' New Analytics
• Send a message to a student who has not viewed or participated in a Canvas resource
• Student Level Analytics in Canvas
• Quiz Analytics in Canvas

Honorlock Proctoring in Canvas 2

• Turn on Honorlock for a Canvas Quiz
• Create a Practice Quiz in Honorlock

Canvas Assignments 8

• Create a Canvas Assignment
• Add Multiple Due Dates to Canvas Assignment
• Create a Group Assignment with randomly assigned students in Canvas
• Add an assignment to an Assignment Group in Canvas
• Assign an assignment to individual students in Canvas
• Use the Automatically Assign Peer Reviews option to an existing Canvas Assignment.
• Use the Manually Assign Peer Reviews option to an existing Canvas Assignment.
• Create a rubric in Canvas

Canvas Discussion Board 7

• Require multiple replies for a Canvas Discussion Board
• Post to a Canvas Discussion Board
• Mentioning other users in a Canvas Discussion Board
• Anonymize Discussion Posts
• View Canvas Discussion Board in split screen format
• Add Multiple Due Dates to Canvas Discussion Board
• Create a Canvas Discussion Board

Canvas Home Page Template Editing 14

• Replace the cover image in the Home Page welcome presentation with the Canvas Template
• Replace a faculty picture in the Canvas Template
• Set a cover video in the Canvas Course Template Welcome presentation
• Upload a course introduction video on the Home Page with the Canvas template
• Edit text information on a Canvas template homepage
• Set the front page of a Canvas course with Canvas Template
• Replace Home Page module thumbnail images with Canvas Template
• Embed a Padlet for student introduction on the Home Page with Canvas Template
• Edit the Course Schedule in the Canvas template
• Add a website link to a page in Canvas
• Import a past Canvas course in a new course
• Import the Course Template and pre-populate using the Canvas Template Builder
• Enable the universal template in your Canvas course
• Fix a broken homepage thumbnail link

Canvas Overview Page Template Editing 7

• Create a custom built Overview page using Canvas template
• Link learning activities to the Overview page in the Canvas template
• Remove sections of the Overview page in the Canvas template
• Customize activity rows in the Overview page of the Canvas template
• Embed a video to the Overview page in the Canvas template
• Add a website link to a page in Canvas
• Import the Course Template and pre-populate using the Canvas Template Builder