What causes the message "The file associated with this content topic cannot be found"?

Tomiko.R.967

I have an instructor who uploaded some PowerPoints into Content. When first uploaded, everything works as expected—the file uploads successfully and the PowerPoint is available. However, one of her students reported that they could not access a PowerPoint and instead saw this error message:

"The file associated with this content topic cannot be found."

The instructor re-uploaded the same PowerPoint, and it is now working. For reference, she is using the same PowerPoint in another section without any issues. Also, this does not happen with every file—some PowerPoints open without a problem.

I’m not sure what is causing this error to appear. Has anyone else experienced this issue? (Screenshot of message below)

Lindsay.S.432

• Hi @Tomiko.R.967! This has happened to me before when I have copied content from one course to another and I didn't ensure I "included all associated files" during the copy. I included a screenshot of the Copy/Import/Export process below to show you what I mean. To confirm if the file is available in the current course, you should be able to find it in Manage Files; if the file was deleted, renamed, or moved to a different folder, the content topic can’t find it so that may be another reason for the error. I am not sure if that is what is happening here, but this has been my experience if it helps 😊