Installing plugins

Warning: Please be aware that some contributed modules and plugins have not been reviewed, and the quality and/or suitability for your Moodle site has not been checked. The modules and plugins may have security problems, data-loss problems, interface problems or just plain not work. Please think carefully about maintenance before relying on contributed code in your production site, as some of this code may not work with future versions of Moodle.

Downloads

Contributed modules and plugins may be downloaded from...:

the Modules and plugins database or
cvs:moodle/contrib using the URL http://download.moodle.org/download.php/modules/directory_name.zip

Module installation

To install a contributed module:

You must have access to the server containing Moodle. This can be direct access, through a network or to a remote server through Internet with an FTP client, you can't do it from "inside" Moodle itself. (There are many free FTP programs like FileZilla that can be used. If you use FTP, you will need to know [from the server provider] the ID and password and maybe a couple more things. Once it is setup, it's as easy as other file management.)
Download the zip file and unzip it to your moodle/mod directory.
In your browser, go to your Moodle site:

Site Administration
  Notifications
    Continue

Note: The module may contain language files. If so then just leave them in the folder and they'll be found automatically. However, language strings cannot be edited using the Site Administration > Language editing interface.

To install a contributed module to a local Mac OS X web server:

Download the zip file and unzip it to:

   /Applications/MAMP/htdocs/moodle19/mod

Visit your Local Moodle site http://localhost:8888/moodle19/

Site Administration
  Notifications
   Scroll to the bottom of the page and click on "Continue"

Check your new module has been installed:

  Site Administration
   Modules
    Activities
     Manage activities

Block installation

To install a contributed block:

Download the zip file and unzip it to your moodle/block directory.
Visit your admin page http://your_moodle_address/admin/index.php to complete the installation.

Other types of plugin

Plugins are installed in various places in Moodle, depending upon the plugin. For example, plugin question types need to be unzipped to your moodle/question/type directory.

You can work out the correct place from the download link. If the download link is http://download.moodle.org/download.php/plugins19/mod/quiz/report/responses.zip, then after unzipping, the responses folder needs to be copied into the mod/quiz/report folder of your Moodle install.

After installing any plugin, you should visit the admin notifications page of your web site (URL .../admin/index.php) to allow the plugin to install itself if necessary. (It is not always necessary, but you should always check.)

Installation trouble-shooting

If you visit the admin page and don't get a message about a new block (or module) being successfully installed then check the following:

The new block folder is named correctly. For example, the Learning Resources block folder should be named "learning_resources" (not "learning_resources_block").
The new block folder is not contained within another folder. For example, unzipping block_learning_resources.zip results in a folder named "block_learning_resources" containing a folder named "blocks" containing a folder named "learning_resources". If it's easier, just copy and paste the folder named "learning_resources" into the blocks folder of your Moodle site.

If you browse the blocks folder of your Moodle site, you'll notice that all the blocks follow a pattern - the activity_modules folder contains a file block_activity_modules.php, the calendar_month folder contains a file block_calendar_month.php, the learning_resources folder contains a file block_learning_resources.php etc. Modules follow a similar pattern.

Module and block removal

To remove a contributed module:

Access Administration > Modules > Activities > Manage activities (or Administration > Modules > Activities in versions of Moodle prior to 1.9).
Click on delete next to the module you wish to remove.
Use a file manager to remove/delete the actual module directory from moodle/mod, otherwise Moodle will reinstall it next time you access the site administration.

To remove a contributed block:

Access Administration > Modules > Blocks > Manage blocks (or Administration > Modules > Blocks in versions of Moodle prior to 1.9).
Click on delete next to the block you wish to remove.
Use a file manager to remove/delete the actual module directory from moodle/blocks, otherwise Moodle will reinstall it next time you access the site administration.

Documentation