[ARCHIVED] "download all submissions" problem

[andrew_d_campbe]

I teach digital imaging classes and frequently require my students to submit image files with sidecars.  The problem I am having on Canvas is the the "download all submissions" function automatically renames all the files, making the sidecar files totally useless.  Today i spent hours renaming my students' files one at a time just so I could view their work, the only other option I could find was to download each file one at a time which would be just as slow and tedious.  Is there a way to download submissions without generating a new file name?

[James · Accepted solution]

 @andrew_d_campbe  

You are not the only person with this concern. For example, computer science instructors often need multiple files included and renaming them breaks the code.

There is no way within through the browser interface to do this. One could write a computer program to download the files through the REST API, but there have been some work-arounds offered in the community that are easier to implement.

One person said they had their students zip the files together first and then Canvas kept the original filenames inside the zip file (that works well because it keeps all of the student files together and avoid conflicts if Johnny and Sally both name their files "project").

Another person said they use a bulk rename tool to rename the files. That is probably better when there is a single file for each student, but I mention it in case it might work.

Here are some links to other threads about this issue.

• Assignment Downloads 
• Changing many file names at once using Bulk Rename Utility | Something to Share 
• Resubmit assignment but keep original filename? 
• Issues related to student file submissions being re-named