How do I manage content shared with me?

Managing shared content in Canvas LMS is an essential aspect of fostering collaboration and efficiency among educators. It allows instructors to easily distribute, access, and organize course materials such as assignments, quizzes, pages, and discussions shared by colleagues. By effectively managing shared content, educators can maintain course consistency, streamline updates, and enhance the learning experience for students while reducing redundant work. This capability supports a dynamic teaching environment where resources are readily available and adaptable to various courses and instructional needs.

Tips for Organizing Shared Canvas Content

Use Modules to group related content by week, unit, or topic, creating a clear path for students to follow and making navigation intuitive.
Rename files, module items, and headers to be descriptive and consistent so that shared content is easy to find and understand.
Organize documents in the Files area of the course.
Hide the Files tab from students and link files through Modules or Pages to keep the course navigation clean and prevent accidental sharing of sensitive materials.
Regularly review and update shared content to remove outdated or duplicate files, ensuring content stays current and relevant.
Use text headers and indentation within modules to create visible subsections, making content organization clearer.

Locate and Open Shared Content

To view all of the content that is shared with you, click the Account link [1], located in the global navigation menu. Then, click the Shared Content link [2].

When you receive new shared content, the Account and Shared Content links display a badge icon that appears as a number. The number designates the number of shared content items that have been shared with your account or course, [3].

Arrows pointing to the Account icon and Shared Content link on the Open Shared Content page.

View the Received Content

The Received Content page displays a list of all content items that other users have shared with you. The list includes the title, the content type, the sender's name, the received date, and an actions menu.

New content is indicated with an Unread icon [5] which displays as a filled in circle. If you preview or import content, the icon changes to a Read icon [6] which displays as an unfilled circle. You can also manually mark items as read or unread by clicking on the same icon.

Keep in mind, shared content may be removed from your Received Content page after a period of time by default. It is recommended that you preview and import content as soon as possible after it is shared with you. (Shared announcements display as a Discussion Topic content type.)

The View Received Content Page is displayed showing people who are sharing content with or to.