Old Canvas courses will be archived beginning July 1

From: Technology-enhanced Learning and Online Strategies and the Division of Information Technology

Canvas is the digital hub for teaching and learning at Virginia Tech. With more than 10 years of course information stored in the system, an archiving solution is needed to improve the Canvas experience for faculty and students. Technology-enhanced Learning and Online Strategies (TLOS) and the Division of Information Technology will implement a data management plan to archive old Canvas courses beginning on July 1. Canvas sites used to support for-credit courses that were taught prior to 2021 will be archived. This process is anticipated to finish early in the fall semester. During the first year of Canvas archiving, no courses will be permanently deleted, and any course can be restored to an active state, if needed.

Beginning in the summer of 2026, Canvas courses will remain active for four years, will be stored in the archive for another four years, and then will be purged from the archive. This model will ensure that all Canvas courses are retained, either in an active or archival state, for at least eight years.

The Canvas archiving plan will produce several benefits:

• Uncluttering instructors’ course lists, and other views, like the Canvas “Inbox”
• Improving system performance for all users
• Complying with contractual data storage limits
• Restoring archived courses as needed with a simple request

No action is needed from teaching faculty before the archiving plan begins, but proactively deleting unneeded courses will help accelerate the archiving process. Canvas sites that were created manually and are not tied to for-credit courses will not be archived.

If you have questions or concerns about the Canvas archiving plan, please contact tlos@vt.edu.