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Moving Moodle courses with repository links

Did you know there are some gotcha’s when backing up and restoring to a different site?

Recently we were working with a client who wanted to move some courses from one site another.

They had used Moodle in a recommended way, by using a repository and linking to files within that.

But when it came to the task of moving courses, using the standard Moodle Backup and Restore process, it became evident that the files being linked to would not be part of the backup – rendering the exercise pointless because resources would be missing.

Moodle Docs is misleading here, as it indicates:

By selecting all the options when setting up the backup you can include almost all the data in the course. However you should be aware of the fact that some things are not backed up:

  • Quiz questions are only backed up if at least one question from their category has been added to a quiz.
  • Scales are only backed up if they are used by at least one activity.
  • Users passwords are not backed up when the “Include enrolled users” option is selected.
  • Glossary data
  • Badges – if they have not been awarded to at least one user and users are not included in the course backup.

Well certainly user passwords being excluded is good!

But Glossary data not backing up is really bad 🙁

The other thing you need to be aware of, is that if you are linking to files in a repository these files are not included in the course backup.

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2 thoughts on “Moving Moodle courses with repository links

  • Anonymous

    Moodle glossaries aren’t that bad though, as you can just export the entries into XML and then import them into the glossary in the restored course site.

    Reply
    • blank ElearningWorld Admin

      Very true 🙂

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