Spruce: Overview

Spruce is a UIW-built tool that gives instructors a centralized way to review, organize, and clean up course content—including files, pages, assignments, quizzes, discussions, and announcements—without navigating through multiple Canvas menus. The tool is available from the Course Settings sub-menu.

Getting Started

When Spruce opens, you’ll need to select a content type from the tab row to load items. The tool does not load any data until a tab is selected. Available content types are: Files, Pages, Assignments, Classic Quizzes, Announcements, and Discussions.

Files Tab

The Files tab lists all files in the course file library and is the primary focus of Spruce. Each file displays its name, size, file type, last updated date, and visibility status. To learn more about Canvas file states and visibility, refer to What are Files?

Course Usage

Toward the top of Step 2, a meter will display. This meter provides a visual indicator at how much course storage space has been taken up. Alongside the meter is a quick link to learn more about file sizes, and information about which content counts toward course storage.

Note: This number may differ than the number shown in the Canvas files menu. That is expected. Canvas shows a rounded number while Spruce shows a literal value of what to expect from course storage quotas.

Filtering Files

Files can be filtered by status (All, Published, Unpublished, Locked), file type (Images, PDFs, Video, Audio, Microsoft, Other), and last updated date. You can also sort individual columns—Size, Type, and Updated—by selecting the arrow icon next to each column header.

The Folder filter displays a folder picker, where you can filter the view by folder. A great use case here is to filter by Uploaded Media to clean up what's been uplaoded by instructors of the course, but to also see your changes as you move files around.

Visibility Status

For files, there are three primary states a file can be in:

Published: The file is available to students
Unpublished: The file exists but is not visible to students (accessible via direct link only or simply not published)
Locked: The file is inaccessible to students, typically due to availability dates

File Usage Scan

The Scan usage button (Files tab only) scans every page, assignment, quiz, discussion, announcement, and the syllabus page body (not linked syllabus files) for references to files in the course. After the scan completes, a new Used In column appears showing whether each file is referenced in course content.

Used — The file is referenced in at least one approved content item. Select the Used badge to see exactly where.
Not used — No references to this file were found in scanned content.

After a scan, the Select unused button selects all unreferenced files at once, making it easy to review and bulk-delete files that are may no longer needed.

Note: Files referenced only inside question banks or New Quizzes item content cannot be detected and will appear as unused. If you use question banks, we recommend to keep those files in a dedicated folder to avoid accidental deletion.

File Actions

Select the edit icon ✎ on any file row to open the edit panel, where the file name, publsihed status, and locked status can be changed.

To act on multiple files at once, select the checkboxes on the left side of each row. A selection bar will appear at the bottom of the screen with the following options:

Move: Move selected files to a different folder
Download: Download selected files to your device as a ZIP file
Delete: Permanently delete selected files

Hover Preview

Hovering over a file name displays a metadata popover with the file's size, type, created date, updated date, hidden status, and locked status. Image files display a thumbnail preview.

Spruce file metadata popover

Moving Files

After selecting one or more files and choosing Move, a panel opens listing all folders in the course.

Spruce move panel with folder list

Select a folder to move the files into. If the destination folder does not exist yet, select New folder to create one at the course root, then select it as the destination. Select Move here to confirm.

Note: New folders created through this tool are placed at the root of the course file library. Nested folder creation is not supported at this time.

Canvas Content Tabs (Pages, Assignments, Classic Quizzes, Discussions, Announcements, Rubrics)

Each content tab will display action items unique to that tab. For example, you can preview pages, but cannot preview assignments or discussions.

Most content tabs displays items of that type with the following columns:

Title: The item name, linked to the Canvas item. Select the title text to rename it inline.
Published: Shows whether the item is published. Select the badge to toggle published status.
In Module: Indicates whether the item appears in at least one course module. Hovering over the badge shows which module(s) it belongs to.
Has Content: Indicates whether the item has body content, including text, embedded media, iframes, or images. Items showing Empty have no detectable content.
Updated: The date the item was last modified.

The Rubrics tab has unique columns:

Points: Total points in the rubric.
Criteria: Total criteria created in the rubric.
Used On: Total number of assignments the rubric is attached to

Spruce's three primary functions for Canvas content are: renaming items, publishing or unpublishing items, and deleting items.

Renaming Items

In compatible tabs, select the pencil icon ✎ in the Actions column of any page, assignment, or quiz to edit the name inline. Enter the new name and select Save, or select Cancel to discard the change.

Spruce inline rename field

Publishing and Unpublishing

In compatible tabs, select the Published or Unpublished badge on any row to toggle the item's published state. The change is applied immediately. If an assignment or quiz has existing student submissions or grades, it cannot be unpublished.

Deleting Items

Select one or more items using the checkboxes, then select Delete from the selection bar. A confirmation prompt will appear before any items are permanently removed.

Spruce delete confirmation prompt

Warning: Deletion is permanent and cannot always be undone. Confirm selections carefully before proceeding. Rubrics can only be deleted if they are not associated with an assignment.

Filtering and Sorting

Most tabs support the following:

Search: Filter items by name as you type
Status filter: Show all items, published only, or unpublished only
Age filter: Show items not updated within a selected time window (1 month, 2 months, 3 months, 6 months, or 1 year)
Column sorting: Select any sortable column header to sort ascending or descending

Some tabs do not support filtering for when the item was last updated. The Files tab also includes a few extra options, such as a Type filter to narrow by file category, an Uploaded Media toggle, and the Scan usage feature described above.

Summary Counter

A running counter near the content area tracks your cleanup activity for the current session, displaying totals for items deleted, renamed, published/unpublished, and moved, along with the amount of course storage freed. As you work, you'll also earn titles based on the number and types of items manipulated... and for the curious, there may be a small surprise waiting if you click around on the counter itself.

Note: All counter progress and earned titles reset if you leave and return to Spruce. We are looking into storing and displaying this information on a per-user basis.

Frequently Asked Questions

An item shows "Empty" under Has Content, but I can see content on the page in Canvas. Why?

The Has Content indicator checks for visible text, embedded media, iframes (such as video embeds or LTI tools), and images. If a page contains only a content type the tool cannot detect—such as a purely styled layout with no readable elements—it may show as Empty. Open the item in Canvas to verify its content and contact Canvas Support with feedback if you believe this is an error.

An item shows "No Module" but it is in a module in Canvas. Why?

The In Module indicator is calculated when the content tab is first loaded. If course modules were recently changed, select Refresh to reload the data.

Can I delete files that are linked in pages or assignments?

Yes, but doing so will break any links to those files in course content. Use the Scan usage feature to review which files are referenced before deleting, to avoid broken links for students.

A file shows "Not used" after a scan, but I know it is referenced somewhere. Why?

The scan checks pages, assignments, quizzes, discussions, announcements, and the syllabus. It cannot detect files referenced inside question banks or New Quizzes item content. If you use question banks, files attached to those questions will always appear as unused regardless of whether the question is used in a quiz. Keep question bank files in a dedicated folder to avoid accidental deletion.

Will publishing or unpublishing an item here affect student access immediately?

Yes. Publish and unpublish actions take effect immediately in Canvas. Students will gain or lose access to the item as soon as the change is saved.

Can I use Spruce to manage New Quizzes?

Partially. New Quizzes appear in the Assignments tab, not the Classic Quizzes tab. The Classic Quizzes tab displays only quizzes built with Canvas's original quiz engine. New Quizzes are built on a separate engine and stored in Canvas as assignments, which is why they are listed there instead.

I created a new folder through the Move menu, but I don't see it in Canvas Files. Where is it?

New folders created through Spruce are placed at the root of the course file library. Navigate to Files in the Course Navigation menu to confirm the folder was created. If it does not appear, select Refresh in Spruce and try again.

Can I undo a deletion?

No. Deletions made through Spruce are permanent and cannot be recovered through the tool. Canvas does not provide a recycle bin for course content. If critical content was deleted in error, contact Canvas Support—recovery options depend on when the deletion occurred and what was deleted.