Archiving a Canvas course removes it from your active course list but keeps all the content and grades stored
When you archive a Canvas course, the course moves out of your main dashboard but stays in your account. You can still view the course, its assignments, grades, and discussion posts whenever you need them — they do not disappear. Archiving is useful when a term ends, a course concludes, or you want to clean up your active course list without losing the record of what happened in that course.
The archive feature works differently depending on whether you are an instructor or a student. Instructors can archive their own courses. Students cannot archive courses themselves; only the instructor can do that. If you are a student and want an old course out of your view, you can hide it instead, which removes it from your dashboard without archiving it on the instructor's end.
Key Takeaways
- Instructors archive courses through the course settings menu, and the process takes less than one minute.
- Archived courses remain in your account with all grades, assignments, and posts intact — nothing is deleted.
- Students cannot archive courses but can hide them from their dashboard using the course menu.
- Archived courses can be unarchived at any time if you need to restore them to your active list.
- After archiving, you can still read grades, export course content, or view student work for records or reference.
How instructors archive a course in Canvas
Log into Canvas and open the course you want to archive. Click the Settings link in the left navigation menu — it is usually at the bottom of the menu. On the Settings page, scroll down until you see the Archive this course button. Click it, and Canvas will ask you to confirm. Click Archive again to complete the action.
The course will disappear from your main dashboard when ready. You will no longer see it in your course list on the home page. However, you can still access it by going to your account menu (the icon in the top right), selecting Settings, and then clicking the Courses tab. There you will find a link to view archived courses, and you can click on any archived course to open it.
What happens to course content when you archive
Nothing is deleted or hidden from view when you archive a course. All assignments, discussion posts, grades, student submissions, and course materials remain exactly as they were. The only change is where the course appears in your navigation — it moves from your active list to your archived list.
You can still read grades, export the course content, view student work, and access any file or discussion post in an archived course. If you need to reference student performance, pull a transcript, or retrieve course materials for accreditation or your own records, you can do that in an archived course just as easily as in an active one. The archive is purely organizational; it does not restrict what you can see or do with the course.
How students can hide courses they no longer need
If you are a student and want to remove a course from your dashboard, you cannot archive it yourself — only the instructor can do that. Instead, you can hide the course. Open the course, click the course menu (the three dots or menu icon next to the course name), and select Hide from dashboard. The course will disappear from your main course list.
Hiding a course is temporary and personal to you. Other students in the course will still see it, and the instructor will not know you hid it. You can unhide the course at any time by going to your account settings, clicking Courses, finding the hidden course, and clicking the menu icon next to it to select Show on dashboard.
Unarchiving a course if you need to restore it
If you archive a course by mistake or need to bring it back to your active list, you can unarchive it. Go to your account menu in the top right, select Settings, and click the Courses tab. Look for the section labeled Archived courses and find the course you want to restore. Click the menu icon next to the course name and select Unarchive.
The course will return to your main dashboard and active course list when ready. All content, grades, and records remain unchanged — unarchiving straightforward moves the course back to where you can see it without opening your archived list. You can archive and unarchive a course as many times as you need.
When to archive a course
Most instructors archive courses at the end of a term or semester. If you teach the same course every year, you might archive the previous year's version to keep your dashboard clean while you work with the current year's students. Archiving is also useful if you have taught a course only once and do not plan to teach it again but want to keep the records for your files.
Some instructors archive courses when ready after grades are posted and submitted to the registrar. Others wait until the next term begins and they have set up new courses. There is no rule about when to archive — it is entirely up to you and how you like to organize your account. The important thing to know is that archiving does not affect grades that have already been submitted or any official record outside of Canvas.
Exporting course data before or after archiving
If you want to save a copy of your course outside of Canvas — for your own records, to reuse content in another course, or for accreditation purposes — you can export the course. This works the same way whether the course is active or archived. Go to Settings, scroll down to Export course content, and click the button. Canvas will prepare a file that includes all course materials, assignments, and discussion posts.
The export process can take several minutes or longer depending on the size of your course. Canvas will send you an email with a read link when the file is ready. You can also read your gradebook separately by going to the Grades area, clicking the menu icon, and selecting Export. Doing this before you archive is a good habit if you want to be certain you have a backup, but you can also export an archived course whenever you need to.
Frequently Asked Questions
Will students see that I archived the course?
If you are the instructor and you archive the course, students will no longer see it in their active course list. However, they can still access it through their archived courses section if they look for it. The course does not disappear from their account — it just moves to archived. Students are not notified that you archived it.
Can I archive a course that is currently in progress?
Yes, you can archive a course at any time, even if students are still enrolled and submitting work. However, it is usually better to wait until the course ends and grades are final. If you archive while the course is active, students will have to look in their archived list to find it, which can be confusing.
What if I need to add a student to an archived course?
You can unarchive the course, add the student, and then archive it again. Alternatively, you can add students to an archived course without unarchiving it — go to the course, click People, and add them as you normally would. The course stays archived in your view, but the student will see it in their active list.
Does archiving affect my grade submissions to the registrar?
No. Grades that have already been submitted to your institution's registrar are not affected by archiving. Archiving only changes how the course appears in Canvas — it does not touch any official records outside of Canvas or any grades you have already posted.
Can I search for an archived course?
Canvas does not have a search function for archived courses, but you can find them by going to your account settings, clicking Courses, and scrolling to the archived section. If you remember the course name or number, you can scan the list there. Unarchiving a course you use often is sometimes easier than looking it up repeatedly.