Adding and editing files in Blackboard

Role: Designers

The Add File tool allows you to create new HTML pages or add files such as HTML, Word and PDF documents, images and audio to the Home Page, a folder or a learning module.

Mac users: it is recommended that you use Safari as your browser when uploading files.

Add an existing file or document
Upload and add a file from your computer
Create a new file
Preview a file
Show/hide a file
Edit a file
Remove a file
Add a website

Add an existing file or document

1. Click on the Build tab.
2. Go to the Home Page, folder or learning module where you wish to add the file or document.
3. Click on the Add File button at the top-left of the main window
   
   
   
   
4. Click on Browse for Files.

5. In Class Files, go to and click on the box next to the file you require.

6. Click OK.

top

Upload and add a file from your computer

1. Click on the Build tab.
2. Go to the Home Page, folder or learning module where you wish to add the file or document.
3. Click on the Add File button at the top-left of the main window.
   
   
   

4. Click on Browse for Files.

5. Click on My Computer.
6. Navigate to and select the file you wish to upload and click on Open.
   
   

Note: You can select multiple files from the one folder.

• You can select multiple files from different locations by clicking Click here to select files individually.

• Browse to the location of each file.

style="width: 425px; height: 366px;"

• Click OK

7. The file now appears on the Home Page, folder or learning module.
8. Click the ActionLinks icon next to the new file
9. Select Customize Link

10. Edit the settings.

• The default name for the link is the file name, you may wish to change this to something more meaningful to the students.
• It is good practice to include the file type and file size in the name, particularly for large files and media files e.g Lecture 1 mov 9.7MB
• It is good practice to select Open in a new browser window  
  
  
  

top

Create a new file

1. Click on the Build tab.
2. Go to the Home Page, folder or learning module where you would like to add the new file.
3. Click on the Add File button at the top-left of the main window.
   
   

4. Click on Create File.

5. In the Create File window, type a title in the Title field.
6. Click on the Enable HTML Creator button if this is not already activated.
7. Type or paste content in the Content field.
8. Type a file name in the File name field if the default name is not appropriate.

9. Click Save or Save and Add Another. The file now appears in the main window and is also saved in the File Manager.

top

Preview a file

1. Click on the Build tab.
   
   

2. Go to the file you wish to preview.
3. Click on the ActionLinks icon next to the file.

4. Click on Preview. The file will open in a new window.

5. Close the window.

top

Show/hide a file

1. Click on the Build tab.
   
   

2. Go to the file you wish to show or hide.
3. Click on the ActionLinks icon next to the file.

• If the file is hidden, click on Show Item to make it visible to students.
• If you want to hide the file, click on Hide Item.

Note: With the Selective Release tool you can selectively show a file based on date, student, group or grade book criteria. For further information, refer to the Selective Release guides.

top

Edit a file

Note: This only applies to (HTML) files created in Blackboard.  In the case of other files (i.e. Word and PDF) you can only change the name of the link.  These files must be edited on your computer and re-imported.

1. Click on the Build tab.
   
   

2. Go to the file you wish to edit.
3. Click on the ActionLinks icon next to the file.

4. Click on Edit Properties.

5. Click on the Enable HTML Creator button if this is not already activated.
6. Make the necessary changes.

7. Click Save.

Note: In Blackboard you can only edit HTML files - you can't edit files in other formats such as Word or PDF.

top

Remove a file

1. Click on the Build tab.
   
   

2. Go to the file you wish to remove.
3. Click on the ActionLinks icon next to the file.

4. Click on Remove Link.

5. Click OK to confirm you wish to remove the file.

Note: This process will not delete the file from the File Manager. It will simply remove the link. (For further information on the File Manager, refer to the File Manager guides.)

top

Add a website

1. Create a .zip file containing all the files in the website you wish to upload, keeping their folder hierarchy intact.
2. Click on the Build tab.
   
   

3. Click on File Manager in the Designer Tools menu.

4. Click on Get Files.

5. Click on My Computer on the left side of the Get Files window and navigate to the .zip file that contains your website.
6. Click Open. The .zip file will appear in the File Manager.

7. Click on the ActionLinks icon next to the .zip file and click on Extract. You will see a folder in the File Manager with the same name as the .zip file.

8. Click on the Build tab and go to the Home Page, folder or learning module where you wish to create a link to the website.
   
   

9. Click on Add File and then Browse for Files.

10. Navigate through the new website folder in the File Manager until you find the site's 'default' or 'index' file.

11. Click on the box next to this file and then click OK. The 'default' or 'index' file will appear on the site and the website structure should be intact.