Managing Broken Links

Have you ever encountered an issue in your Canvas course(s) where you (as the instructor) are able to access course links but your students cannot? One of the main reasons this might be the case is because of how the links were originally created in your course(s). Let’s look at an example:

A link to a course page, “Online Course Resources”, was copied and pasted from one course to another. When the instructor clicks on the link to make sure it works properly, the instructor does not experience any issues. When students click on the same link, they see a “Page Not Found” message.

A "Page Not Found" error screen within the Canvas LMS featuring a whimsical illustration of a large red planet with an astronaut and a rocket ship tethered to it, floating among stars. Below the graphic, large text announces, "Whoops... Looks like nothing is here!" followed by a smaller subtitle, "We couldn't find that page!" and a final caption reading "Page Not Found" at the bottom.

In the below example, the instructor hovers over the “Online Course Resources” link. The URL at the bottom of the browser window appears as the instructor hovers over the link. But, the CourseID number displayed in the bottom URL does not match the CourseID number in the browser’s address bar at the top of the screen. Students who are enrolled in CourseID 12345 cannot access the “Online Course Resources” linked page because they are not enrolled in CourseID 54321.

To summarize: Copying and pasting links from one course to another is not encouraged…as it creates issues for your students that will need to be manually fixed.

A screenshot of a Canvas course page titled "Online Course Resources" within the course "Chris' Sandbox". A large dark arrow points from the browser's address bar at the top, highlighting the URL which contains the course ID number "12345". Another large dark arrow points from a link on the page itself, also titled "Online Course Resources," down to the browser's status bar at the very bottom left. This status bar displays the destination URL for the hovered link, which contains a different course ID number, "54321". A pink banner at the bottom of the screen indicates the user is currently "acting as Alfred Stu...".

As detailed in Validating Links in a Canvas Course, it is important to ensure that all links in your course(s) are working properly for you and your students. The Canvas Course Link Validator helps you identify links that are broken and/or point to other course content.

The following options are available to help get your links fixed in your course:

  • Reach out to the Educational Technology + Innovation team if you do not feel comfortable correcting links on your own.
  • Use the RCE (Rich Content Editor) available on most Canvas content pages to correct the links yourself. The following Guides will show you how to create links to course content and files within your course:
Create hyperlinks to course or group content
Create hyperlinks to user, group, or course files
Link to a document from Canvas

How do I link to a document from Canvas in the Rich Content Editor?