Folder resource settings

Adding a folder to your course

Note: Folders you wish to upload to Moodle have to be "zipped" or "compressed" first. The way you do this depends on your computer and operating system.

If you already have a folder of files you would like to display, there are two methods:

Quick method

1. Click the 'Turn editing on' button at the top right of the course page
2. Drag and drop the folder onto the course section where you'd like it to appear
3. Click the button of the action you would like to take with the folder (in our case, "Unzip") and click "Upload"
4. If necessary, edit the title of the folder by clicking the pencil icon

2. Drag and drop folder

3. Uploading the folder

Longer method

1. Click the 'Turn editing on' button at the top right of the course page
2. Click 'Add an activity or resource' link, then in the activity chooser; select folder then click the "Add" button (or select folder from the "Add a resource" dropdown menu) All settings may expanded by clicking the "Expand all" link top right.

General settings expanded by default

Content settings expanded by default

1. For General, add name and a description (which may be required or optional according to the admin settings)Click "Show editing tools" to display the rich text editor and drag the bottom right of the text box out to expand it. Enabling 'Display description on course page' will show it just below the link to the folder.
2. For Content, either drag and drop a zipped/compressed folder into the box with an arrow or click the Add button to open the File picker menu in order to choose a file from your computer or a repository.
3. When the folder thumbnail appears, click on it and select "Unzip":

Unzipping a folder

1. Click the original (zipped) folder and click the "Delete" button to delete it if you wish
2. Select how you want to display your folder contents, your Common module settings and, if enabled, Conditional activities settings and Activity completion and click "Save and return to course"
3. Click the button 'Save and return to course' at the bottom of the page

Creating and uploading to a new folder

Use this method if you want to create a folder on your Moodle course and then upload files into it.

1. Click the 'Turn editing on' button at the top right of the course page
2. Click 'Add an activity or resource' link, then in the activity chooser; select folder then click the "Add" button (or select folder from the "Add a resource" dropdown menu)
3. Enter a name and a description (which may be required or optional according to the admin settings)
4. Click the "Create folder" link as below; choose a name for your new folder and then click "Create folder"
5. Click INTO the folder
6. You can then add individual files into the folder either by dragging and dropping into the box (1 below) or clicking the "Add" (2 below) to upload files from the File picker
7. Choose how you want to display your folder contents, your Common module settings and, if enabled, Conditional activities settings
8. Click "Save and return to course"

4. Creating a folder

6. Adding files to a folder

Display folder contents

Decide here whether to have the folder displayed on a separate page (the default) or inline with or without subfolders expanded or collapsed.

Folder displayed on separate page

Folder displayed inline

Folder displayed inline with subfolders expanded

In Moodle 2.5.2 onwards, all folder names are shown on the course page. (Previously the name was not displayed for folders displayed inline.)

Folder capabilities

• View folder content
• Manage files in folder module
• Add new folder

Site administration settings

The folder module has additional settings which may be changed by an administrator in Site administration > Plugins > Activity modules > Folder.

Require activity description

This setting allows you to turn off the requirement for users to type something into the description box.

See also

• The Moodle Folder Resource MoodleBites video on YouTube
• Moodle 2 file management MoodleBites video on YouTube