Import glossary entries

Please refer to these notes before editing this page.

Importing entries

To import glossary entries via an XML file:

1. Follow the "Import entries" link at the top right of the main glossary page.
2. Browse for the exported entries XML file on your computer.
3. Select the destination for the new entries, either the current glossary or a new one.
4. If you want to import category information, click the checkbox.
5. Click the "Save changes" button. You'll then see a report of the entries and categories added to the glossary. If you enabled duplicate entries when you created the glossary, the import process will add all of the new definitions. Otherwise, it will not allow you to import any duplicate entries.
6. see below about different tools and programs to create XML file from your glossary

Troubleshooting

Possible causes of problems importing entries:

• If there are mistakes in the XML file such as the <entries> tag being missing or the <info> tag being in the wrong place. May happen if you have constructed the XML file manually or with some sort of tool like mailmerge in Word and your template is wrong.
• If there are top bit set characters in the text of the entities like concepts, definitions or keywords. Replace things like & with &amp;
• If there are tabs or spaces between entries. Not sure if spaces cause problems but best to remove any between the end of one tag and start of the next. e.g. Search and replace > < with >< via a text editor.
• In most cases the import is halted if any of these errors occur.
• Duplicates in the entries which clash with entries already when merging a glossary is usually not a problem.
• Warnings like Warning: exec() has been disabled for security reasons in /moodle/lib/uploadlib.php on line 603 may not be the problem when importing but may distract one from dealing with problems with the format of the XML file.
• HTML and XHTML tags written within CONCEPT or DEFINITION elements will fail on import, showing "Array" instead of the desired content. To remedy this, try writing the (X)HTML tags within <![CDATA[ ]]> markup.
• If the glossary entries contain images, image paths will need amending in order for the images to be displayed when the file is imported. A search and replace in the XML file before importing is one option, another is to use the Search and replace feature within Moodle.

Restoring a course backup

An alternative method of importing glossary entries is to restore a Moodle course backup file containing a glossary. This method includes categories, images and attachments within glossary entries and if you also select users then the authors of entries are also imported if they were originally included in the backup.

Importing tools

• David Fountain's Excel macro An Excel workbook with macros to create an XML file.
• Yasu Imao's Moodle glossaryXMLconverter_html 4 A JavaScript based converter, works directly in your browser.

(Both above methods are detailed in this discussion.)

• online Moodle converter Allows to easily create glossary online. Supports different formats of entries - Excel, concept: definition, concept - definition and others. Also can re-convert from XML to text.
• Importing into Moodle contains an explanation of how to manually create an XML file from an Excel spreadsheet.

Importing glossaries in WebCT format

See this Using Moodle forum discussion

See also

• Glossary of common terms with entries download link for importing to other Moodle sites
• Import and export FAQ
• XML FAQ

• Using Moodle Backup a glossary forum discussion