Storage Space in Canvas

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Introduction

All Canvas sites within Penn Canvas have a default allotment of 1000 megabytes (MB), or 1 gigabyte (GB), with Wharton sites being an exception. Courses in Wharton’s sub-account begin with 2000 MB or 2 GB of storage.

Three times a week, the Courseware Developer runs a script to check the space of all active Canvas sites. If your site shows 80% or more space being used, your site will receive an increase of 1000 MB, or 1 GB.

There are two ways to check how much storage you are using in your course:

  1. Go to “Files” and the percentage will appear underneath the folder structure
  2. Go to “Settings” then “Course Statistics” then “File Storage”

What Counts

The following items count toward course storage space:

  • Any file uploaded into the “Files” section directly or uploaded through the Rich Text Editor of a page, module, assignment, quiz, or announcement. Examples can include PowerPoint slides, PDF files, Word documents, and images.
  • The course card image that is visible on the Dashboard.
  • All content imported from a Canvas Course Export Package (.imscc file type).

What Doesn’t Count

The following items do not count toward course storage space:

  • Student submissions.
  • Files copied from a previous semester’s course to a new course.
  • Files stored within a third party integration tool (Panopto, Perusall, Gradescope, etc.).
  • Group quotas (500 MB limit). If your groups are creating large files, please reach out to your local support provider to find an alternative solution.
  • User quotas (500 MB limit). These items can include a user’s profile picture and any file they choose to save in Canvas for their personal use only.

Recommendations

To save space:

  • Upload videos and audio files into Class Recordings. Class Recordings uses a third-party cloud storage called Panopto. After uploading, you can link or embed the video into a page or module.
  • Share articles with students using Perusall or the Course Reserves.
  • Store other large files in Penn Box and Google Drive (SAS only), generate sharing links, and embed these hyperlinks within Canvas.

Additional Resources

Getting Help

If you need a storage increase or have questions, email canvas@pobox.upenn.edu.

Last Updated: 28 Mar 2023