Skip to Page Content

Copying Content using Backup-Restore

From WolfWikis

Jump to: navigation, search

Back to Moodle Guides

Copying Content to a New Semester

When it comes time to roll-over content from one semester to the next (or from one course to another, even within the same semester), the most complete method is to use Backup and Restore.

To do so:

1. Go to the old course (the one you're copying from), and click on the link for "Backup," in the Administration block

2. You should see a column with a bunch of checkboxes marked "User Data." Above that column, click the link for "None" to uncheck them all.

3. For the drop-down menus below, choose the following settings:

Users: None
Logs: No
User Files: No
Course Files: Yes
Site files used in this course: Yes
Grade Histories: No

4. Click "Continue"

5. Ignore the message in red. Just click "Continue" again.

6. The backup will complete in a moment. Click "Continue" when it finishes.


You should now be looking at a list of files. In that list will be at least one file starting with the word "backup" and the name of the course, ending with a string of numbers.

7. Find the backup file modified most recently (the one you just made), and right-click (or Ctrl-click) on the name.

8. Choose "Save Target As..." or "Save Link As..." in the menu that appears. If you're on a Mac, choose "Download Link As..."

9. Save the file to your Desktop, or somewhere you can find it later.

10. First, go into the new course.

11. Click "Restore" in the Administration block

12. Click "Upload a file," and browse to the file you just downloaded in step #8.

13. Once it's uploaded, click the link for "Restore" out to the right of the file name.

14. Click "Yes" to continue.

15. On the next screen, click "Continue" again.

16. In the "Restore to..." drop-down box, choose "Existing course, deleting it first."

  • NOTE: This will wipe out any data added to the new course, and replace it with the contents of the old course. If you've added anything to your new course, be sure to back it up before continuing.


17. When you're ready, click "Continue" once again.

18. Click "Restore this course now!" and wait for the process to complete.

19. When it's completed, click "Continue" one last time, and you should be redirected to the new course, complete with all the imported content.


If you run into any trouble with the process, contact us at the LearnTech help desk.


Wiki Stats

Users:  7,204
Pages:  3,945
Uploads:  4,767
Views:  4,508,091
Edits:  92,100