Overview and Background

Pitt’s Canvas site is set up with a default quota of 2 GB for each course as they’re created. In a world with high-resolution images, video, and free cloud storage measuring in many gigabytes, sometimes we get asked why this is.

We use a course reaching its quota as an intervention point to check out a course to see what might be done to improve the experience for our students, whether it’s using standard systems, increasing accessibility, or encouraging best practices. The overwhelming majority of courses do not run up against this quota. Less than 2% of all courses do, and many of those were from video files (see MP4 section, below).

In cases where you do need an increased quota, we are happy to do so. Just open a support request with us (link toward bottom of page). We also realize that it can be time-intensive to redo aspects of your course or to learn Panopto during a semester, so if you do not have time, we can just increase your quota for this semester. We would ask you, if you could, please try to make changes before the next time you deliver the course.

Important note: Student uploads/submissions to assignments do not count against your course storage quota. Only files imported or uploaded by teachers (and TAs, Designers) for delivery to students count for your quota.

Common problem: Deleting items from your course organization (removing modules, assignments, pages) does not have an effect on your quota. This does not remove the files. It only removes the links to the files that you had previously created. You will need to delete the files themselves from the Files page.

Finding and Managing Quota

A common symptom of Canvas being over quota is that it fails to accept a file upload. Sometimes it doesn’t give an error message. If you experience this, or if you do get an error message and want to check your quota:

1. Enter your course
2. Click Files from your course navigation menu
3. See your quota at the bottom left (you may need to scroll)

Canvas displays your quota and usage as a bar graph and as a percentage of your quota (while listing the quota).

Sorting, Searching, and Deleting

If you click on the column header for “size” in the file display, Canvas will sort your files by size. This can help you to find the largest files more easily.

Canvas does not let you see all your files in the course at once (regardless of the folder they are in) or allow you to filter for unused files. You will need to browse folders to find them. Or, you may search for the file types that are the most common causes of quota issues: MP4, PDF, PPT, PPTX. If you search, it will show you these files it finds regardless of the folder they are in. You can sort your search results by size as well.

If there are any files you want to delete:

1. Point at the file
2. Click the Options button
3. Select Delete from the menu
4. Click OK to confirm that

Relevant Canvas guides

• Canvas guide: How do I view course files as an instructor?
• Canvas guide: How do I move and organize my files as an instructor?
• Canvas guide: How do I delete a file or folder as an instructor?

What to do with Common Large Files

MP4: Use Panopto for Video

Video files (MP4 files are the most common, but you may also see VOB, AVI, or other ones) tend to be very large. Pitt uses Panopto (My Pitt Video) as its video hosting service, and it integrates very well with Canvas. It is better to host your video content there than in Canvas. Some of the reasons Panopto is the preferred system for your videos follows, and then directions about the Zoom-Panopto integration, quick directions for how to use Panopto, and how to learn more about Panopto. If you need assistance with any of these, find the link to ask for more help toward the bottom of this page.

• Panopto currently has no quota.
• You can easily re-use videos across different classes without duplicating the video itself and it has robust permissions settings.
• You can share with non-Pitt audiences if you want to.
• There is a built-in editor that allows you to do some basic video editing features, like auto-creating or touching-up captions, and removing parts of the content.
• Panopto can automatically create alternate versions of your videos for different screen sizes or audio-only versions.
• You can “mash up” different videos (including YouTube videos) into one video, or include basic quizzes inside your video.
• Zoom and Panopto can talk to each other to upload your cloud recordings to Panopto automatically. (More below.)
• Panopto supports multiple video streams at once (like teacher/camera video and screen share view).
• Because Panopto is used consistently in many courses, Students are accustomed to using the Panopto link in your course to find its video content.

Important note: Before using Panopto with your course in any way, click Panopto Video from your course navigation menu. While Panopto is enabled by default for all courses, your video folder is not actually created until you click on the link from Canvas.

When to use Video Directly in Canvas

There are situations where you may still want some of your video files inside Canvas. These are usually videos that you would record directly within Canvas using its Rich Content Editor. Common examples of this are your weekly announcements video, or video feedback about an assignment for the whole class. These videos are typically short and incidental. (You may, of course, still use Panopto for these types of videos.)

About Your Zoom Recordings

Zoom, Panopto, and Canvas all talk to each other. If you set your Zoom meeting to record to the cloud (whether automatically or b y clicking record during a meeting), it will automatically upload to Panopto after the meeting has ended. This process can take some time (usually an hour or two, but sometimes up to a day or two). This will save you the time of saving or downloading and then uploading files, and it also preserves your multiple video streams (screen sharing and your camera) separately in Panopto.

If you go a further step and create your Zoom meeting within Canvas, not only will your video automatically go to Panopto, it will go to the Panopto folder for your class where students can see it immediately. (Sometimes, such as in classes with a lot of sensitive discussions, this is not desired and it is best not to use this automation.)

Quick Directions to Move Your Videos

Here is the quick process for moving video files from Canvas to Panopto:

1. Download the file(s) from the Files page in Canvas
2. Click Panopto Video from your course navigation menu
   • If absent, enable Panopto first
3. Click the blue Create button at the top middle of your screen
4. Click Upload Media
5. Click or drag/drop in the box the file(s) you want to upload
6. Wait for the upload to complete
7. Once the upload is complete, Panopto will process the videos. This can take some time. It will email you when they are ready. You do not need to keep the page open anymore at this point.

Learning More about Panopto

We have created a self-paced learning course for how to use Panopto. You can read the materials without enrolling, or click “join this course” in the top right once you visit if you would like Canvas to track your progress through it. Other learning resources:

• Using Panopto with Canvas (includes how to embed your Panopto recordings in your Canvas modules or pages
• How to manage/organize content in Panopto
• More about the Canvas-Panopto-Zoom integration
• See all of our available Panopto documentation

PPT/PPTX: Compact your PowerPoint files

Narrated Slideshows

Voiceover narrated PowerPoint files with can often be a poor way to deliver content to students. It requires they have and use PowerPoint to view them, the files get quite large, and they do not work well on various devices (like mobile phones). They are also prone, sadly, to crashing even on devices where they do work. For these files, we would recommend you instead upload:

• A clean, pre-mark-up version of your slides to your course, that is small, and easy for students to view, work with, or print.
• A conversion of your narrated PowerPoint file to video, uploaded to Panopto and shared with your course. Narrated slideshows are often equivalent to video, so it’s usually best to share it as a video. (There are, of course, exceptions where narrated slideshows are the appropriate delivery method, usually when non-linear interaction is involved.)
  • You can create the narrated PowerPoint files as you have been, and “save as movie” them to an MP4, that you can upload to Panopto. Convert them to an MP4 file, and then upload that file to Panopto according to the directions above. (Microsoft guide: Turn your presentation into a video).
  • After converting to MP4, do not upload that file to Canvas. You’ll want to place it in Panopto, otherwise you’ll run into the same quota issues.
  • Or, if you have time, re-record them directly with Panopto (or Zoom to Panopto) as if you were actually presenting to an audience: narrate with your voice, use screen inking/cursor highlights, and even your camera if you want to.

Embedded Video/Media

PowerPoint can embed other media files into your presentations. This is most often done with a video to play from your slides. We generally discourage this, at least for files used for teaching. In addition to creating large file sizes, it can be error-prone, cause crashes, and make it more difficult to upload and share your files. It can also make your file work on some devices but not others.  If you can, it is usually better to include your file separately: as a separate video download or as a web link for streaming. You can link to your Panopto videos from your presentation. (Microsoft guide: Add a hyperlink to a slide.)

Just slideshows with many images

If, instead, you just have a lot of images in your files that are important to your lectures (such as an Anatomy or Art History course), there often isn’t a lot you can do. You can try using PowerPoint’s Compress Pictures feature (Microsoft guide: Reduce the file size of your PowerPoint presentations) or, if appropriate, convert to a PDF (Microsoft guide: Save PowerPoint presentations as PDF files). In both of these cases, the quality of your images are reduced as they are compressed. If you have some images that are less important than others (such as decorative images that don’t convey learning content), you might try selecting only those when compressing first.

A note on PPT (vs PPTX) files

Older Microsoft Office file formats (without the “X” at the end, like DOC/XLS/PPT vs newer DOCX/XLSX/PPTX) tend to be larger. They’re also more prone to corruption, and are increasingly considered a potential security hazard. You should consider updating any files you have in these older formats to the newer formats. While initially there were compatibility issues with other software with newer files, it is now the case that the older files have less compatibility with other systems.

PDF: Share Efficient PDFs

Well-crafted PDFs are usually fairly small. While they can get large in some cases, course materials with rather large PDF often indicates a problem. The most common cause of this is a PDF that is a scan  of a document. In addition to being larger files, scanned documents are also accessibility and (potentially) copyright issues.

When you look at the PDF, is it clean and clear (without obvious “noise” from the scan), with text in straight lines? Can you select the text, and copy/paste it into another document? While it’s not always possible, you should try to track down an original document to replace your scan with if you can. Contact the University Library System for options. Or, sometimes you might be able to contact the original author for a digital file. Or, if the excerpt you are sharing is short, type out and cite the material.

If you created the PDF yourself, make sure you went to Save As PDF, and not Print to PDF. For existing PDFs, if you have Acrobat Pro, you can try to use PDF Optimizer. (Adobe guide: Optimizing PDFs in Adobe Acrobat Pro)

Still Over Quota? Contact us for help!

If you have looked over your files in Canvas and still need a quota increase (or otherwise need help with any of the above), open a ticket with us. (Include in your request any actions you’ve already taken.)