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Edit a Moodle space

This guide explains how to turn on editing in a Moodle space where you have editing permissions. It details how to add, move and delete activities, and how to make your course visible to students when it is ready.

Change the course format

A course format refers to the layout of your Moodle space. See the separate guide Change course format for more guidance on this.

Edit mode

To edit content in your Moodle space, enable Edit mode in the top right of your Moodle space. edit icons and options will now appear.

If you cannot see the edit mode toggle, your role does not have editing rights.

Turning editing on allows you to:

For more specific editing tasks, please see the separate guide Edit content boxes using the editing toolbar.

Manage sections/topics

Moodle uses the terms topics and sections interchangeably depending on the course format. We will refer to these by the term 'section' in all our guides i.e. Add sections is the same as Add topics.
  1. Enable Edit mode
  2. Scroll to the bottom of your space.
  3. Click Add topics.
  4. Choose how many new topics you want to add and click the Add topics button to confirm.
  5. Click the Edit button in the top right-hand corner of a section to:
  6. Use the to drag a section and move it to a new position on the page. You can also move a section by clicking on the move icon and selecting the appropriate section in the pop-up for the section to appear below.
  7. Change the name of any topic/section by clicking the edit icon to the right of the name of the section that you want to edit, typing your new title and pressing Enter.
Depending on your current course format, you may only see a plus or minus icon to add/remove one section at a time. The number of sections can always be changed by going to the course Settings tab, course format and changing the number of sections.

Add resources

      1. Enable Edit mode
      2. Click Add an activity or resource.
      3. Choose an activity or resource from the menu.

      For more information on this see Introduction to adding content.

      Drag and drop files

          1. Enable Edit mode
          2. Decide where you want your file to appear in your Moodle space.
          3. Drag your file from your file dialogue box into Moodle. You should see an Add file(s) here box appear.
          4. Drop the file to automatically upload to Moodle.

          Add blocks

              1. Enable Edit mode
              2. Scroll to the bottom of the navigation menu on the left-hand side.
              3. Click Add a block.
              4. Choose the type of block you require from the menu. The block will appear in the right-hand column.

              For more information on this see the Add content blocks guide.

              Move resources and blocks

                  1. Enable Edit mode
                  2. Click and hold the move icon.
                  3. Drag and drop the resource in its new location. Activities and resources can only be moved within the central section of the page. Blocks can only be moved within the right column.

                  Indent resources

                      1. Enable Edit mode
                      2. Click Edit on the right-hand side of any resource.
                      3. Click Move right to indent within a section.
                      4. Click Move left to remove an indent.

                      Hide or delete resources

                          1. Enable Edit mode
                          2. Click Edit on the right-hand side of any resource
                          3. Click Hide to hide the resource completely or;
                          4. Click Hide and then click Make available so that hidden items can be linked to from elsewhere in the course but not be visible on the page. Click to make it unavailable again.
                          5. Click to show the item again.
                          6. Click Delete to permanently delete an activity or resource.

                          Duplicate resources

                              1. Enable Edit mode
                              2. Click Edit on the right-hand side of any resource
                              3. Click Duplicate to copy an activity or resource.

                              Make a course visible to students

                              When new course spaces are created in Moodle they are automatically hidden from students as indicated by a message in a yellow banner at the top of the page. Users with editing rights for this Moodle space are still able to view, access and build content on the Moodle space.

                              To make a Moodle space visible to students:

                                  1. Click the Actions menu in the top right-hand corner of your Moodle space.
                                  2. Click Edit settings.
                                  3. You will be taken to the Edit course settings page. Click on the drop-down for Course visibility and select Show.
                                  4. Click the Save and display button.

                                  Your course will now be visible to students and other participants on your Moodle space.

                                  To hide your Moodle space from students, follow these steps and select Hide under Course visibility at step 2.

                                  The information on this page relates to Moodle v3.10 and was last updated November 2021

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