Export Blackboard course sites when you need to move course content items into Canvas.

This process will create a zip file of your Blackboard course site that can contain announcements, assignments, tests, files, discussion forums, and more. Be prepared to do an extensive clean-up in your Canvas course after importing the zip file. We recommend you first review our Moving from Blackboard to Canvas Guide to learn what items will or won't import.

Things to note:

Do NOT use the Safari browser for this process.
Do NOT unzip or delete items from zip file, as then the contents will not import correctly.
Student submissions and activity will be excluded from the zip file.
If your downloaded course export zip file is greater than 2GB, please contact the KU Educational Technologists at itedtech@ku.edu.

Instructions to export a Blackboard course and import to Canvas:

Login to Blackboard using your KU Online ID and password.
Navigate to the course site where the course content is located. Locate the gray Course Management control panel, expand the Packages and Utilities section, and click Export/Archive Course. Control Panel > Packages and Utilities > Export/Archive Course
On the Export/Archive Course page, click Export Package on the Action Bar.
On the Export Course page, scroll down to Select Course Materials, and click the boxes next to each item you wish to include in the export zip file.
- Note: Not all course content on this list will import into Canvas. Please review our Moving from Blackboard to Canvas Guide to learn what items will or won't import.
Click Submit at the bottom right of the page
Wait for the zip file to be processed. An email is sent to your KU email as soon as the system has created the zip file. Either refresh the page or repeat steps 1 and 2 to reload the course Export/Archive page.
Click the zip file name (blue link) to download and save the file on your computer (typically in your Downloads folder).
Note: The zip file will be named: ExportFile_[YOUR COURSE ID].zip
To import the Blackboard course zip file into Canvas, Login to Canvas using your KU Online ID and password.
Navigate to the Canvas course where you want to import the Blackboard course zip file.
On the right side of the screen select Import Existing Content.
In the dropdown next to Content Type select Blackboard 6/7/8/9 export.zip file.
Click Choose File. In the window that opens up, locate and select the export zip file that was downloaded from Blackboard on your computer.
If your imported course had questions select the Create new questions bank option and create a name for you new question bank. Under Content select All content. Once you have made the needed changes, select Import.
Under Current Jobs you will see Completed next to the import job, once it has finished.
After an import job is complete, you may need to review and select specific content to import into the course.

Return to the Moving from Blackboard to Canvas Guide