Moodle: How to Backup a Course

Moodle allows all teaching roles (including TAs) except the Non-Editing Instructor to backup their Moodle courses. The process below saves a backup file of the current state of a course. After saving, it will be available in Moodle's Simple Restore area and can be downloaded and saved to a computer or cloud storage. The backup file type is .mbz, which can only be opened and used within a Moodle site. To import an external backup file into Moodle, it must be smaller than 500 MB in size. Due dates restored from a backup file will adjust based on the new course's start date. For example, an assignment due 7 days after the saved course start date will be updated to 7 days after the new course's start date when the file is restored.

To learn more about the weekly automated backups and the semester backups see GROK 20178: Moodle Backup and Restore Overview.

Backup a Course

  1. Log in to Moodle and open the course you want to backup.
     
  2. Click on the Admin gear in the upper right of the course page.

Moodle course Administration menu
 

  1. Click on the Backup link.

Course admin menu with "backup" highlighted
 

  1. Initial settings: Select the settings you would like to include for your backup. In most cases when there are not group activities, you will want to deselect Include groups and groupings to avoid saving unnecessary groups into your next course. Click Next.

    Tip: If you are backing up the entire course and the default settings meet your needs, click Jump to final step to skip the remaining steps and perform the backup.

backup settings with checkboxes
 

  1. Schema settings: The next page will show you more details about the backup file you are creating and give you options to include or exclude topic sections or activities from your backup file. Click Next.

Note: This page may take a long time to load, depending upon how much material you have in the course.

Backup Schema settings of course sections and activities that can be unchecked to exclude from the backup file
 

  1. Confirmation and review: Confirm and review the selections then click Perform Backup near the bottom of the screen. Optionally, rename the Backup File using the textbox at the top of the page.

final review with "Perform Backup" button at the bottom
 

  1. Perform backup: Wait for the backup process to complete. 
     
  2. Complete: Once finished, click Continue to access a list of your backup files, along with their dates, sizes, and download option.

Lists files in the "Course backup area" as well as the "User private backup area"

 

Support & Training

The Faculty Technology Center (FTC) provides Moodle support by email, by phone, or live through Zoom. For contact information, please see the article Faculty Technology Center: LSU Overview. To connect through Zoom and for further information on support services and training, see the LSU Online & Continuing Education Faculty Resources & Support page.

The FTC also provides just-in-time faculty training opportunities and recorded training sessions. Attending at least one training session for Moodle upgrades is highly recommended. For a comprehensive list of available workshops and recordings, please see the LSU Online & Continuing Education Technology Training page.

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