How do I schedule a file's availability in Media Gallery?

You can set a Publishing Schedule on a file in My Media so when you publish it in Media Gallery or embed it on a page in your Canvas course, the file will only be available to viewers at the dates and times you specify.

Note:

  • The Publishing Schedule is applied to a media file, not to a specific Media Gallery. For example, if an instructor publishes a scheduled file in multiple courses' media galleries, it will become available to students in all the courses at the same time. To work around this, you may copy a file, then follow the steps below to set unique dates on each copy you publish in a different course.
  • You must be the Owner of a file or a collaborator with Co-Editor permission to be able to schedule its availability. For details on adding collaborators, see How do I allow someone to publish or edit one of my Media Gallery files?

Go to My Media.

Select My Media from your Global Navigation Menu.

Tip: For details about global navigation, see How do I use the Global Navigation Menu as an instructor? (opens new window) or How do I use the Global Navigation Menu as a student? (opens new window).

Edit the video, audio, or image file.

Screenshot shows example My Media page with Edit button outlined. Graphic link opens modal with larger image. Press Escape to exit modal.

Select the pencil (Edit) icon for the file to schedule.

Set the Publishing Schedule to Specific Time Frame.

Screenshot shows scrolling down on the page. Graphic link opens modal with larger image. Press Escape to exit modal.
  1. Scroll down near the bottom of the page to find the Publishing Schedule options.
  2. By default, the Publishing Schedule is set to Always. Select Specific Time Frame.

Set the Start and End Time as needed.

  1. In the Start Time fields, enter the date in month/day/year format, as mm/dd/yyyy, and the time in the format hours:minutes AM or PM. For example, enter 07/18/2022 and 1:00 PM to make the file available on July 18, 2022 at 1:00 PM.
  2. Optionally, you may enter an End Time to hide the file after the specified date and time.  Leaving the End Time blank means the file will always be available to viewers after the Start Time.
  3. By default, times will be set in Eastern Time. You may use the drop-down menu under the Start Time and End Time fields to set the times using a different time zone.

Tip: When you click or tab into a date field, a calendar will appear. You can click on a date in the calendar or navigate to a date with the arrow keys on your keyboard and press Enter to select it.

Select Save.

Go back to the media page.

You can scroll back up to the top of the page to find a message indicating the information was saved successfully. Select the < Back to Media Page link.

View dates.

  1. Scroll down on the page under the media player.
  2. Under the header AVAILABLE TO VIEW, you can find the availability dates and times.

Publish a file that is not yet available.

To publish a file that is set to become available at a future date, you will need to either:

  1. Publish it in a course's Media Gallery from within My Media, as described below,
  2. Or embed it on a page in your Canvas course by following the steps in How do I embed a file from My Media in the Rich Content Editor?

Select Actions, then Publish.

On the media page:

  1. Select the Actions menu.
  2. Select Publish.

Change the Publishing Status to Published.

By default, the Publishing Status of a file is Private. Select Published.

Choose where the media will be published.

  1. A list of your Canvas courses that include the Media Gallery tool will appear.  Select the checkbox(es) for the course(s) where the media will be published.
  2. Select Save.

View success message.

Screenshot shows success message. Graphic link opens modal with larger image. Press Escape to exit modal.
  1. A message will appear above the Publishing Status to indicate that the media was successfully published.
  2. You can find the media galleries where it is published listed under the Published in: section below the list of your courses where you can publish it.

Check scheduling status in My Media.

Screenshot of My Media in table view. Graphic link opens modal with larger image. Press Escape to exit modal.

You can review the scheduling status and scheduling start dates for your media as follows:

  1. On the main page of My Media, select the Table View icon. The icon can be found near the top right of the page, next to option to add new media. The Table View icon looks like a line with two rows of dots under it.
  2. In the table listing your media, the Scheduling column will display one of the following statuses:
    • Active - The file is currently available to viewers.
    • Upcoming - The file will become available at a future date.
    • Expired - The file's scheduling End Time is in the past and it is no longer available to viewers.

The Scheduling Start Date column will indicate the Start Time for the file's availability.

How does scheduled media display to viewers?

When you publish a scheduled file in a course's Media Gallery, it will not appear in the gallery outside of the availability dates.

If a scheduled file is embedded on a page in your Canvas course:

  • The media Owner and anyone added on the file as a collaborator (Co-Publisher, Co-Editor, or Co-Viewer) will always be able to view the file like any other media file embedded on a page.
  • If the file is not currently available, others who access the page will get the following message:

Scheduling Status

This page is currently not available as it is out of the scheduling timeframe. Please contact the content owner for more information about the page availability.