Best Practices for Question Bank Cleanup
Before you begin, keep these tips in mind:
Stay Organized: Arrange categories in a clear, logical structure so questions are easy to locate
Use a “Do Not Delete” or "Archive" Category: Temporarily move questions you want to keep (such as those used in quizzes)
Review Before Deleting: Questions currently used in quizzes cannot be deleted
Perform Regular Maintenance: Cleaning your Question Bank each term helps prevent clutter and performance issues
Important: Deleting questions cannot be undone. Make sure you no longer need them before proceeding.
How to Delete Several Categories Questions at Once:
When Should You Use This Method?
Use this process if you:
Have many unused categories
Want to delete multiple questions across several categories at once
Find your Question Bank difficult to manage
The Quick Idea
Instead of deleting questions one category at a time, you can:
Group categories under one parent category
Move any questions you want to keep
Purge
Purging a category will permanently delete:
The category
All subcategories
Any unused questions inside
⚠️ This action cannot be undone, so always double-check before confirming.
Step-by-Step Instructions
Step 1: Open Your Question Bank
Go to your course
Click More (top menu)
Select Question bank
Step 2: Go to Categories
Use the dropdown menu near the top-left
Select Categories
Step 3: Create Temporary Categories
Create categories to help organize your cleanup:
Click Add category
Create one called: "Categories to Purge" or “Clean Up” or something similar
Create another called: “Do Not Delete” or “Archive” or something similar
Step 4: Group Categories for Cleanup
Move the categories you want to clean up under Categories to Purge/Clean Up Category that you created.
You can drag and drop categories to nest them or click on the three vertical dots to the right of the category you want to move and select Move
Before grouping:
After grouping:
Step 5: View All Questions
Click the category you want to clean up
Check: Also show questions from subcategories
Select Yes for Show hidden questions
Click Apply filter or Show all
Import: Review questions before deleting.
Step 6: Move Questions You Want to Keep
Before deleting, move any important questions:
Look for questions that:
Are used in quizzes
You may want to reuse later
Hidden questions
Why are some of my questions grayed out?
Grayed-out questions are called "hidden questions" or "old questions."
These are questions that are still used in a quiz but were accidentally deleted.
You can restore these questions: Select the Edit dropdown menu for the question, and then select Restore.
Select those questions
Scroll down to With selected… → Move to
Move them to the Do Not Delete category or another category of your choosing.
Step 7: Purge categories
Click on the dropdown in the upper left-hand corner and select Purge categories.
Find the Parent category you want to purge.
Click on the X next to the category
Read the "Confirm question category purge" page carefully before clicking on "I confirm, that I understand what I am doing."
A dropdown may ask you to move certain questions to another category. Select the category you want to move these questions to.
Helpful Tips
Clean up your Question Bank at the start or end of each term
For large Question Banks, break the cleanup into manageable chunks by deleting categories in groups.
If you’re unsure about deleting questions or organizing your Question Bank, feel free to reach out. We’re happy to help.