All students have roughly 100MB (MegaBytes) assigned to them for file submissions in Canvas. Reasonably, this should not be filled completely by submitting normal documents. If you often upload larger files such as pictures such as PowerPoint files with embedded pictures or video clips, 100MB can be easily filled in a matter of a semester. This guide shows where you can view files that have been uploaded using your storage quota and how to manage them if space is not available.


Locating your quota and files

To reach your files uploaded to Canvas, go to the top left of Canvas and click on Account > Files.


Confirming your amount of used storage

Storage amount is showed in a percentage at the bottom of the Files page. If you have been using nothing but Word documents for uploads, this will usually be between 0-5%.


Exceeded storage and removing files

If your quota goes above 100%, you may reach points when attempting to post in courses and suddenly receive a "quota exceeded" error. This means you will need to locate and delete files that are causing your quota to be exceeded. Navigate through courses using the left menu on the image above. Each folder you click on will show any files contained within on the right as shown below. You are looking for files that are usually 10MB or more (files in KB {KiloBytes} are below 1MB, 1MB=~1000KB). Once you located the file that is too large, you may hover over it, go to the three dots as illustrated below, then decide what to do next. You can download these files if you need to back them up. After you have confirmed you no longer need it for a submission, you may click delete. 

*Important: once you delete a file, it cannot be undone.


How do I keep my storage use low?

Most courses will not require you to upload files larger than 1MB. Check what type of file are you uploading. Documents are small and require very little storage. Images designed for the net are usually small, but higher quality photos can quickly become large. Avoid uploading videos directly under any circumstances; see the note on videos below for more information. Consider the following to reduce your Canvas storage usage:

  • Is it a PowerPoint with photos embedded into it? Consider reducing the size of the photos that are embedded; the following official Microsoft Guide covers how to compress images in PowerPoint files to reduce wasted space.
  • Does the Word document contain embedded photos? You can also compress Word documents with embedded files similar to Power Point documents. See the official Microsoft Guide here for Word document compression.
  • Is the file a video? Videos are often the largest files, easily exceeding 100MB. If you have attempted to use Canvas's video tool in a Discussion Board, we highly recommend downloading the video and removing it from your Canvas files to save on space. If you would like to share videos, consider using Canvas Studio with the following guide or Panopto with your professor's instructions. Canvas Studio and Panopto have a completely separate storage system that does not use your Canvas storage quota.
  • Ensure you are following your professor's instructions if there are special submission directions. Your course may regularly require large file uploads, especially for multimedia courses. Your professor may have a special system setup for receiving such files.
  • If you cannot compress your file, consult with your professor about submitting a Google Drive link. Your student Google account has 50 GB (GygaBytes, 1GB=~1000MB) of storage allocated to it. You can visit drive.google.com to get started. Upload documents, then share them as a sharable link. *Make sure the file has appropriate permissions when sharing the link, or your professor will not be able to access it. "Anyone with the link can view" usually suffices.