Skip to content
Customer Support Portal
  • There are no suggestions because the search field is empty.

Why does the Course External Assets tool fail to update my content?

Sometimes the tool will fail to dismiss, import, or update external assets and troubleshooting is required.

Fails to Dismiss

When this happens, the tool fails to save changes to the Canvas content for some reason.  Dismissing an external asset means adding an HTML class called dp-ext-ignore to the element which requires saving changes to the Canvas content HTML via API calls on your behalf.  

What to do:

  1. Make sure you have permission to edit and save changes to the content.  Go to the failed content and make sure there is an Edit button which means you have permissions.
  2. Try dismissing a different asset - does it work?  Then it's likely an issue with the failed content item and not the tool or your user settings.
  3. Try dismissing just the row that failed instead of a bulk dismiss action. This can help avoid possible API throttling on the Canvas side.
  4. Contact Cidi Labs support for further assistance and include the problem content HTML.

Fails to Import

When this happens, the tool fails to import the external file or image into the current course files.  This may be due to the file being inaccessible to the Canvas API.  The Course External Assets tool attempts to flag these inaccessible files with the status "File not found" but it's possible that your file may only have the status of "Flagged".  

What to do:

  1. Attempt to access the file manually by clicking on the link in the Asset column.  If it successfully opens the file in a new tab, then it is accessible.  But if the file will not load then the Course External Assets tool cannot import it (and your students cannot access it).  The best thing to do with these files is to replace them or remove them altogether.
  2. Please confirm in your course Files whether or not it actually imported the file.  If the file is there, then it is an Update issue and not an import issue.
  3. If the file failed to import, but the file successfully opens in a new tab, try importing just the single row instead of a bulk import action.
  4. Contact Cidi Labs support for further assistance and include the problematic file link.

Fails to Update

In this case, the external file or image was successfully imported to the current course, but the HTML of the content failed to update the external path with the new one.  You can tell if this is the case by checking your course Files > external_imports folder to see if the external file is there.

What to do:

  1. Make sure you have permission to edit and save changes to the content.  Go to the failed content and make sure there is an Edit button which means you have permissions.
  2. Try updating a different asset - does it work?  Then it's likely an issue with the failed content item and not the tool or your user settings.
  3. Try updating just the row that failed instead of a bulk update action.  This can help avoid possible API throttling on the Canvas side.
  4. Contact Cidi Labs support for further assistance and include the problem content HTML.