---
title: "Reference: Atomic Author FAQ"
description: Atomic Author simplifies content creation and integration by allowing users to discover, preview, and embed content directly into any course, assignment, or assessment.
---
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# Reference: Atomic Author FAQ
## Atomic Author simplifies content creation and integration by allowing users to discover, preview, and embed content directly into any course, assignment, or assessment.
### How to Use Atomic Author To Add Content
**Enabling Canvas Commons in Atomic Author:**
To use Atomic Author with Canvas Commons, you’ll need to grant access by first opening Canvas Commons within a Page in your LMS. When you do this, you’ll be prompted to complete a one-time OAuth authorization, which enables Atomic Author to seamlessly integrate Canvas Commons resources for embedding content directly into your courses.
*Figure 1: Shows how to Import content directly into a Canvas Module*
*Figure 12 Shows how to Import content directly into a Canvas Page*
### **Key Features** 
•Embed external content across courses.
•Search multiple content repositories (including OER).
•Create and edit within the LMS.
•Integrate through LTI Advantage (1.3).
Atomic Author allows you to seamlessly and efficiently add external content to your Canvas courses. With Atomic Author, you can search, preview, and insert content from multiple sources without ever leaving your Canvas course.
All Canvas roles with course edit permissions can use Atomic Author. Content returned will be scoped to the access and permissions of the user performing the search.
#### External Sources
Atomic Author currently supports searching from the following external sources:
- openEQUELLA (My course content and openEQUELLA database)
- Canvas Course content (My courses)
- Canvas Studio (My course content and Canvas Studio database)
- Canvas Commons (Public, Consortium, Private)
### Rich Content Editor
Search and embed content anywhere there is a rich content editor in Canvas that allows the External Tools functionality.
To use Atomic Author, navigate to the external tools button while editing in the Canvas RCE.
### Navigation menus
Access Atomic Author by navigating to the triple dot menu in the Canvas Modules, Assignments, Pages, and Files menus.
Atomic Author will launch in a righthand sidebar. Results are automatically scoped to the context you are searching within to find the correct type of content you are allowed to insert in that context. For example, accessing Atomic Author in the Assignments menu will scope your results to show you assignments you can insert. See the table below for more information.
| **Placements** | **Content Returned** | **Sources Supported** |
| --- | --- | --- |
| **Modules** | Modules | Canvas Commons, My Courses |
| **Module Items** | Pages, Quizzes, Files, Assignments, Discussions, Videos, Audio, Images, Links | openEquella, Canvas Studio, Canvas Commons, My Courses |
| **Pages** | Pages | Canvas Commons, My Courses |
| **Quizzes** | Quizzes | Canvas Commons, My Courses |
| **Files** | Files ([Canvas supported](https://community.canvaslms.com/t5/Instructor-Guide/What-types-of-files-can-be-previewed-in-Canvas/ta-p/607)), Video, Audio, Images, | openEquella, Canvas Studio, Canvas Commons, My Courses |
| **Assignments** | Assignments | Canvas Commons, My Courses |
| **Discussions** | Discussions | Canvas Commons, My Courses |
| **RCE** | Files, Video, Audio, Images *Note: Content will be embedded when possible; otherwise, a link will display* | openEquella, Canvas Studio, Canvas Commons, My Courses |
### Searching
You can search using keywords, wildcards, and phrases Results are returned from all sources by default—filter results by selecting specific sources or content types to narrow results.
Search results will find matches on content and the metadata attached to the resource. The number of results will be displayed next to each source and type.
### Preview
You can preview a result by clicking on the resource. Content from Canvas Studio, My Courses, and openEquella will launch the resource preview in a new tab. Content from Canvas Commons will launch in the app. Use the **Back** button to return to the list of results.
### Insert
You can insert content by clicking the + icon to the right of a search result. Importing large files from Canvas Commons or your other courses may take several minutes. The app will close automatically when the content has finished importing and is inserted into your course.
Inserting from the RCE will embed content when possible (videos, images, etc.); for content that isn’t embeddable, a link will be created and inserted to access the content.
### Content Indexing
New and updated existing content will be indexed on the following schedule:
- openEQUELLA - Content discovery once a day, reindexing manual
- Canvas Course content - Updated every 24 hours
- Canvas Studio - Content discovery once a day, reindexing every 30 days (configurable)
- Canvas Commons - Content discovery once a day, reindexing manual
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