how to back up course in moodle

by Alex Barton PhD 10 min read

So how can you make a backup of your Moodle course?

  • Click the gear menu and then select “backup.”
  • Use the checkboxes to decide what you would like to bring over with your copy of the course. For example, if you want to...
  • Experienced Moodlers can click the “jump to the final step” button, or if you prefer click “next”.
  • For those who click “next,” you will be taken to the...

Backup Your Moodle Course
  1. Log in to Moodle and click on the course you want to back up.
  2. Under Administration, click Backup.
  3. On the Course backup screen, leave all checkboxes checked to backup both your course materials and student work. ...
  4. On the confirmation screen, click Continue.

Full Answer

How do I back up my moodle2 course?

Backup file names are of the form backup-moodle2-course-coursename-date-hour.mbz, ending in -nu.mbz when backed up with no users and -an.mbz with anonymized names. If you are satisfied with the default settings and don't wish to go through all the backup screens, you can simply click 'Jump to final step' to perform the backup.

Why is my Moodle course not working after a backup?

Usually, it's caused by some "illegal" characters added in the original course due to some copy/paste of text containing them (control characters, or invalid sequences...). The best method to handle this issue is: Unzip the problematic backup file under one empty folder. Open the moodle.xml with Firefox.

How do I save a course in Moodle?

A course can be saved with some or all of its parts by using the course backup. Typically, the site administrator will set a schedule of automated course backups for the whole site. A teacher can create a backup or download an existing backup for safe keeping, or for use on another Moodle site.

How do I backup a course?

To backup a course Go into the course. Click the Backup link either in the gear menu or the Administration block (depending upon the theme). Initial settings - Select activities, blocks, filters and other items as required then click the Next button. Schema settings - Select/deselect specific items to include in backup, then click the Next button.

How do I backup and restore a Moodle course?

Go to the main page of your course, click on the gear icon to the right of the course title, and then click Restore (if you have an empty course to restore into). Upload the backup file by dragging into the Files box, or choose a file in the Course backup area or User private backup area and click Restore.

Where are Moodle course backups stored?

backupdataTo find the backup file for a course, go to the front page of that course, click Administration->Files, and look for a folder named backupdata. The backup file for the course should be found in that folder. If you don't see a backupdata folder, or if the folder is empty, then backups are not being made.

Does Moodle have backups?

A site backup allows a site administrator to save everything associated with a moodle site. These backups can be restored to bring a site back to the point in time when the backup was made.

How do I download a backup course in Moodle?

Downloading a backup fileGo to your course site in Moodle.Find the Administration block: Click Restore.Go to the User private backup area.Find your backup file. (The most recently created file will be at the top of the list.) ... Click Download to copy the backup to your hard drive.

How do I backup my whole Moodle Site?

First sign into your Moodle administration panel:Once you are logged in you should click on the Site home option on the left:Then, in Administration under the Front page setting drop-down menu, you have to choose the Backup option:There, you will see the 5-stage backup process.More items...

How do I export a course from Moodle?

Exporting Content From Moodle From within a course, from the course Administration menu, choose Backup. Select whether to export as a Common Cartridge or a native Moodle file. Follow the succession of screens, to complete the process.

What is backup class?

When a student misses one class due to health problem, or any other issue, and then he/she wants teacher to give him/her extra time so that they could learn what they have missed this application format will apply.

What does site backup and course backup mean?

A course can be saved with some or all of its parts by using the course backup. Typically, the site administrator will set a schedule of automated course backups for the whole site. A teacher can create a backup or download an existing backup for safe keeping, or for use on another Moodle site.

How do I open a Mbz file?

ZIP files, you can extract the contents in the archives by renaming the . mbz file extension to . zip. Then, extract the contents using a Zip-decompression utility, such as Corel WinZip or Apple Archive Utility.

What is the difference between import and restore in Moodle?

Restore begins in the original course--the course to be copied. A backup is "pushed" into a target new or existing course. Import begins in the target new or existing course--the course to be copied into. A backup of another course is then "pulled" into that course from the original course.

How do I move a course in Moodle?

Use the Basic Move Icon to Move Items in Your CourseFor activities and resources, Moodle will highlight the available move locations with an arrow and box.For sections, click Edit (far right of the section), then click Move Up ( ) or Move Down ( ) from the drop-down menu to move the section.

How to backup a course?

To backup a course. Go into the course. Click the Backup link either in the gear menu or the Administration block (depending upon the theme). Initial settings - Select activities , blocks, filters and other items as required then click the Next button. Users with appropriate permissions, such as administrators and managers, ...

Can you save a course on Moodle?

Course backup. A course can be saved with some or all of its parts by using the course backup. Typically, the site administrator will set a schedule of automated course backups for the whole site. A teacher can create a backup or download an existing backup for safe keeping, or for use on another Moodle site.

Can teachers backup their course content?

Note: Teachers can backup course content, resources and activities. However only administrators can backup the data that students have submitted. For more information about course backup check out the documentation or watch the explainer video below:

Can you use a course in a different Moodle site?

Not only will this allow you more time to focus on teaching as you won’t have to waste hours recreating your course, but you can also use your course in a different Moodle site, continue developing it on your MoodleCloud site (if you have one) or even share a copy with a colleague.

How to set default backup for course?

Default settings for course backups can be set by a site administrator in Administration > Site administration > Courses > Backups > General backup defaults .

Is assignment activity module rewritten?

The assignment activity module was completely rewritten in Moodle 2.3. Thus, assignments from Moodle 2.2 and older (e.g. from Moodle 1.9) need to be upgraded in order to continue being usable. See the section 'Restoring course backups from Moodle 2.2 and older' in Assignment upgrade tool for details of what to do.

Can you save a course on Moodle?

A course can be saved with some or all of its parts by using the course backup. Typically, the site administrator will set a schedule of automated course backups for the whole site. A teacher with editing privileges can create a backup or download an existing backup for safe keeping, or for use on another Moodle site. See the screencast Course backup: Save and reuse your course for information on how to back up your course as a teacher.

How to backup a course?

To backup a course. Go to Administration > Course administration > Backup. Initial settings - Select activities, blocks, filters and other items as required then click the Next button. Users with appropriate permissions, such as administrators and managers, can choose whether to include users, anonymize user information, ...

How to set default backup for course?

Default settings for course backups can be set by a site administrator in Administration > Site administration > Courses > Backups > General backup defaults .

Is assignment activity module rewritten?

The assignment activity module was completely rewritten in Moodle 2.3. Thus, assignments from Moodle 2.2 and older (e.g. from Moodle 1.9) need to be upgraded in order to continue being usable. See the section 'Restoring course backups from Moodle 2.2 and older' in Assignment upgrade tool for details of what to do.

How to save a course in Moodle?

A course can be saved with some or all of its parts by using the course backup. Typically, the site administrator will set a schedule of automated course backupsfor the whole site. A teacher can create a backup or download an existing backup for safe keeping, or for use on another Moodle site.

What percentage of course backup stops?

Course backup stops above 90%, not showing any errors

Do you have to reset the import password?

You are advised to update/reset the 'imported' main 'admin's account's password before logging out, as this will most likely be the main 'admin' account for the site, and you would get into serious problems if this account stops working.

Can you change settings in a course backup?

Selected settings may be locked, so that they cannot be changed when creating a course backup.

Can you continue working while backing up a course?

With large courses it is helpful to be able to continue working while the course is backing up in the background . This can be done if the administrator checks the box 'Enable asynchronous backups' from Site Administration / Advanced features

Can Site Administrators backup courses?

Site administrators can backup selected courses using a CLI script.

How to backup a Moodle file?

Step 1: Create and Download a Moodle Backup File. Step 2: Download Course Content. Step 3: Backup Student Work and Grades. At the end of each semester, we recommend instructors take the following steps to preserve their Moodle course contents, and archive student work and grades.

How long after a semester can you delete a course in Moodle?

Because courses are deleted from Moodle approximately 18 months after the end of the semester taught, if you teach a class less frequently than every two years, you will definitely want to backup your course as an .mbz.

Do instructors keep copies of their course content?

As a best practice, instructors should keep copies of their course content organized in folders on their own computer. It is helpful to keep copies in their original, editable file format (e.g., as Word or PowerPoint documents, or video project files), as well as in formats you would post in your course (e.g., .pdf or .mp4).

Can you use mbz files outside of Moodle?

Please note that .mbz files cannot be used outside of Moodle.

How can I extract original files from a Moodle backup file?

If you really want to get original files from the backup file (an ".mbz" file) you downloaded (using the backup and restore feature), you can do so in much the same way as is suggested above.

How can I backup or restore a very large course?

See Backup via CLI in Course backup and Restore via CLI in Course restore (new in 3.10 onwards).

Why is my automated course backup much smaller in size than my manual course backup?

This is an intentional design decision. Because of the way files are stored in Moodle 2.x, there is no need to include the files in the backup if you are planning to restore them to the same Moodle site. Leaving them out saves huge amounts of disk space and makes the backup procedure much faster.

What data is not contained in course backups?

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:

How do I fix backups that lack the student log and participation data?

In Site administration > Courses > Backups > General backup defaults, there is a setting for "Include logs." By default, this is off.

What does "Some of your courses weren't saved!!" mean?

Error - this happens when the backup procedure has found an error and so hasn't finished the backup of a particular course. These are "controlled" errors and the scheduled backup continues with the next course.

Why are some courses being skipped?

Moodle's Course backups routines are instructed to automatically skip courses based on three settings in Administration > Site administration > Courses > Backups > Automated backup setup. The Moodle administrator (s) use those settings to specify whether to Skip hidden courses (set by default to 'Yes'), Skip courses not modified since (set by default to '30 days'), and Skip courses not modified since previous backup (set by default to 'No'). A course which meets any of the enabled criteria will be skipped during the next run of Course backups .

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Backing Up A Course

  • To backup a course 1. Go to Administration > Course administration > Backup 2. Initial settings - Select activities, blocks, filters and other items as required then click the Next button. Users with appropriate permissions, such as administrators and managers, can choose whether to include users, anonymize user information, or include user role as...
See more on docs.moodle.org

Anonymizing User Information

  • Anonymize user information is a backup feature which "protects user identities" by making each user anonymous. If this box is checked in the backup initial settings, Moodle will substitute aliases for real names, substituting @doesntexist.com email addresses and so forth. For example "Max Manager" might become "anonfirstname4 anonlastname4".
See more on docs.moodle.org

Kup and Restore of Assignments from Moodle 2.2 and Older

  • The assignment activity module was completely rewritten in Moodle 2.3. Thus, assignments from Moodle 2.2 and older (e.g. from Moodle 1.9) need to be upgraded in order to continue being usable. See the section 'Restoring course backups from Moodle 2.2 and older' in Assignment upgrade toolfor details of what to do.
See more on docs.moodle.org

Tips and Tricks

  • Lose content after a restore in Moodle 2.0 ? Do you see topic headings that say "Orphaned activities"? Solution: Go to course settings and increase the number of topic sections and things will retu...
See more on docs.moodle.org

Creative Uses

  • The backup and restore processes can offer the teacher and administrators many creative solutions. 1. Duplicating courses or specific activities in one course to another course (similar to Import) 2. Updating a production Moodle site course, with material from a localhost site course 3. Transferring a course to a new Moodle site. 4. In earlier versions of Moodle, a way of rolling a co…
See more on docs.moodle.org

General Backup Defaults

  • Default settings for course backups can be set by a site administrator in Administration > Site administration > Courses > Backups > General backup defaults. Selected settings may be locked, so that they cannot be changed when creating a course backup. By selecting a time in the "Keep logs for.." dropdown, it is possible to specify how long backup logs information is kept before be…
See more on docs.moodle.org

Course Backup Stops Above 90%, Not Showing Any Errors

  • This has been reported to be caused by: 1. a non-standard course_format. Try replacing the course format. 2. not enough server RAM. Adding more RAM to your server is usually the first performance recomendation.
See more on docs.moodle.org

Course Backup Capabilities

See Also

Backing Up A Course

  • To backup a course 1. Go to Administration > Course administration > Backup 2. Initial settings - Select activities, blocks, filters and other items as required then click the Next button. Users with appropriate permissions, such as administrators and managers, can choose whether to include users, anonymize user information, or include user role as...
See more on docs.moodle.org

Anonymizing User Information

  • Anonymize user information is a backup feature which "protects user identities" by making each user anonymous. If this box is checked in the backup initial settings, Moodle will substitute aliases for real names, substituting @doesntexist.com email addresses and so forth. For example "Max Manager" might become "anonfirstname4 anonlastname4".
See more on docs.moodle.org

Kup and Restore of Assignments from Moodle 2.2 and Older

  • The assignment activity module was completely rewritten in Moodle 2.3. Thus, assignments from Moodle 2.2 and older (e.g. from Moodle 1.9) need to be upgraded in order to continue being usable. See the section 'Restoring course backups from Moodle 2.2 and older' in Assignment upgrade toolfor details of what to do.
See more on docs.moodle.org

Tips and Tricks

  • Lose content after a restore in Moodle 2.0 ? Do you see topic headings that say "Orphaned activities"? Solution: Go to course settings and increase the number of topic sections and things will retu...
See more on docs.moodle.org

Creative Uses

  • The backup and restore processes can offer the teacher and administrators many creative solutions. 1. Duplicating courses or specific activities in one course to another course (similar to Import) 2. Updating a production Moodle site course, with material from a localhost site course 3. Transferring a course to a new Moodle site. 4. In earlier versions of Moodle, a way of rolling a co…
See more on docs.moodle.org

General Backup Defaults

  • Default settings for course backups can be set by a site administrator in Administration > Site administration > Courses > Backups > General backup defaults. Selected settings may be locked, so that they cannot be changed when creating a course backup. By selecting a time in the "Keep logs for.." dropdown, it is possible to specify how long backup logs information is kept before be…
See more on docs.moodle.org

Course Backup Capabilities

See Also