Is it possible to not copy the metadata?

Philina.S.996

Hello D2L Community,

We usually upload our content pages to the Learning Repository (LOR) to be able to manage content pages across multiple course offerings. When we are making new iterations of the course, we often copy the content from the past to edit. Is it possible to copy WITHOUT copying the metadata? We often need to rename the page name or the lesson name. When we upload the new version to the LOR, it often retains its old metadata. We then have to go in and overwrite the metadata one by one. If we can avoid copying the metadata, my hope is that when we upload the new package to the LOR, it will use the new names.

Ashwin.R.60

Hello @Philina.S.996

Thank you for reaching out to the Brightspace Community.

Unfortunately, Brightspace doesn't offer a built-in option to copy content pages without metadata — metadata is always copied along with the object.

However, there are a few approaches to handle the issue you're running into when republishing updated iterations to the LOR:

1. Check "Replace existing object's metadata" when overwriting
When you publish the updated content and select "Overwrite an existing object", look for the "Replace existing object's metadata" checkbox. Make sure this is checked (selected). This tells the LOR to use the new version's metadata (including the updated page/lesson names) instead of retaining the old object's metadata. If this box is cleared, the new object inherits the previous object's metadata, which is likely what's causing your issue

2. Edit metadata during the publishing workflow
During the publish-to-LOR process, before the final "Publish to LOR" step, there's an Edit Metadata icon next to each item. You can click it to update the title, description, and keywords right then and there, ensuring the new names are set before the object lands in the repository

3. Publish as a new object instead of overwriting
If you'd prefer a clean slate, you can publish the copied/edited content as a new object (using "Pick a Repository" instead of "Overwrite an existing object"). The metadata will be populated from the current content's names rather than inheriting anything from the old LOR entry. But in this case, the existing dynamic links from other courses will still point to the old version, so you'd need to update retrieval links in those offerings.

Hope this helps.

Regards

Ashwin