Exporting and importing Canvas courses uses a file format called Canvas Common Cartridge, The files you export or import will therefore have the .imscc file extension.
Using an imscc.-file for setting up your Canvas course gives the same end result as copying the course content from a different Canvas course, or sharing or retrieving a course from Canvas Commons.
How to import a Canvas course file
From the course front page, click the "Import Existing Content"-button. The next window is the import page, which has a dropdown menu to select the type of content to import.
You can also navigate to the import page by going to the settings for the Canvas room, and then choosing "Import Course Content" from the menu on the right.
From the Content Type dropdown menu, select "Canvas Course Export Package". After this, you'll be able to select the file to upload, as well as choose whether to import the whole course from the file, or just parts of it (e.g. only importing the modules). Choose "All Content" to import the entire course.
Once you've selected the right file, click the "Import" button. After a few seconds, the course import will start running, and your Canvas room will be ready in a few moments after that.
How to export your Canvas course as a file
You can export existing Canvas courses as files for later reuse, or so that you can use the course you've set up as a template for other courses.
Go to Settings from the Canvas course menu, and then click on "Export Course Content".
You can either export the entire course, or make a separate export file that only contains the quizzes. Click the Create Export button (1) to start generating the export file.
Generating the file may take some time, especially if you have a lot of content in your Canvas course. Once the file has been generated, you can download it from the link on the export page (2).